Rumour has it that once a lion gets a taste of human flesh it can never go back to chomping on a zebra or antelope. I think it's probably a rumour spread by humans, who can't imagine themselves being anything but delicious. But attacks on humans by lions occur quite frequently -- just this week an incident was reported in Namibia where two herdsman were attacked by 8 lions.

We once had to cancel a trip to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia because a man-eating lion was roaming the campground and dragged an unfortunate Scandinavian woman out of her tent. Friends of ours were at the scene and after a lot of banging of pots and shouting by fellow campers the lion let her go. About 140 railway workers were dined upon by two notorious lions (not all at once), in the late 1890's near the Tsavo river in Kenya.

My advice is to stay in the car at all times if you are on a driving safari and never go on a walking safari with at least one guide and a working shotgun. But don't worry too much about the lions. Hippos actually kill a lot more people every year, they just don't dine on them afterwards. Safari anyone?