"Double Trouble" 
Acrylic on Panel 9”x12”
Price on request

After the construction of the railway from Mombassa to Uganda (nicknamed the Lunatic Express) British East Africa and the Uganda Protectorate changed drastically. The wild interior between the port and the fast growing frontier town of Nairobi and beyond, formerly traveled by foot, horse or ox cart, had now been opened up to civilization. As little railway stations were constructed along its route, lions and leopards, constantly on the lookout for easy prey, became frequent visitors to the construction sights. Long after the “Man-eaters of Tsavo”, lions habituated the railway settlements causing injury and death. Available white hunters were often asked to come and rid areas of the marauding beasts.

In my painting a small camp adjacent to the railway, perhaps being used by traders of the time, is being visited by a pair of adolescent male lions. Young lions are seemingly immune to human danger and would wander through camps at night in this manner. Sometimes camp dwellers would be snatched and devoured, other times it would be just a walk through – who knows which this will be?