Gustave, History’s Deadliest Crocodile

Movies often depict real-life animals as monstrous creatures capable of taking your life in an instant.

Films like Jaws vilify sharks, while the movie The Meg exhibits how lethal the now-extinct megalodon would be if they still existed.

However, real life trumps fiction in the case of Gustave, the crocodile with a reported victim count of up to 300 humans.

**Photograph of a croc believed to be Gustave.**

Gustave prowls the Ruzizi River and the northern area of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, Africa, and his legacy of death has followed him for decades.

Despite multiple attempts, no man has ever been able to capture the infamous so-called “crocodile serial killer.”

Learn more about the deadly Nile crocodile and how his story has blurred the lines between fable and reality.

How The Legend Of Gustave Began

Gustave hatched circa 1955 somewhere along the Nile River near Burundi, Africa.

He blended in with his fellow hatchlings until he eventually began to outgrow them by a large margin.

Little is known about his early years since he initially looked much like his reptilian peers, though that all changed in 1987 when the first sighting of Gustave was recorded.

At 5.5 to 6 meters long, he was a sight to behold for the villagers of the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, who were equally terrified and in awe of the enormous crocodile.

By this point, he was in his early 30s and had reached a massive tonne, around 2,200 pounds, almost 20 times the size of the average human.

Compare this to the size of the average crocodile the people of Lake Tanganyika were used to: around 4 meters long and roughly 900 pounds in weight.

Gustave—who at this point had yet to be named—was two meters longer and well over 1,000 pounds heavier than his semi-aquatic counterparts.

**Lake Tanganyika from space. Photo via Wikipedia.**

His stats, though impressive, have never been verified since nobody has been able to get close enough to him to measure accurately.

Village folk were wary of the giant crocodile, witnessing him prey on hippos and wildebeests for lunch.

Hippos can weigh up to 9000 pounds on the high end, which goes some way to showing just how powerful Gustave was.

While other crocodiles eat things like fish, small waterfowl, and carrion, Gustave sought bigger prey.

With his ability to easily capture and drag wildebeest into the water, humans were simply a light snack for the ravenous reptile.

As it happened, humans were going missing in their hundreds, and by chance, they all seemed to be last seen where the enormous crocodile lurked.

So, their disappearance was almost always tied to Gustave since villagers were aware of his insatiable appetite and fearlessness when it came to confronting humans.

Capturing The Deadly Croc

With Gustave terrorizing various settlements across Burundi, East Africa, many locals took it upon themselves to try to hunt and slay the monster.

With so many villagers vanishing into thin air and never returning, there was only one explanation: Gustave had dragged them into the water like he had so many wildebeests.

To stop him from taking any more victims, he had to be eliminated.

Alas, none of the hunters managed to slay Gustave.

There were signs they’d made a serious attempt: the crocodile had numerous bullet wounds on his head and various scars on him, though the hunters were no match for the brutal beast.

Then, in 2004, Patrice Faye, a Frenchman who’d lived in Burundi for decades, decided to embark on a rescue mission for Gustave.

Patrice had a keen interest in animals and had been observing Gustave and the reputation that followed him for years.

He felt that if he didn’t capture and relocate him, Gustave would be killed, or just as likely, Gustave would kill more villagers.

“He travels all the way to the areas of Rumonge and Minago and eats fishermen and bathers en route,” Patrice said of Gustave. “He can eat 10, 15 or 20 people along the bank.”

Around this time, Patrice finally gave the predator the name he now goes by.

Armed with a small team, some of whom were scientists, Patrice set about planning Gustave’s capture. This began by initially trying to lure the monstrous crocodile into a cage that dangled a live chicken from the top.

The cage was giant, offering Gustave more than enough room to maneuver, and had cameras set up inside so the rescue team could observe from afar.

After all, they didn’t want to be another statistic on Gustave’s death tally.

Days passed, and it seemed the giant crocodile had outsmarted the team.

The group then decided the chicken wasn’t big enough prey for Gustave; it wouldn’t come close to satisfying his appetite.

So, they made a decision to remove the chicken and replace it with a live goat, hoping the larger prey would offer more incentive for Gustave to rear his head and enter the trap.

As before, cameras were rolling to ensure the team could see if or when the trap had caught the predator. This didn’t work out, either.

The following day, the team checked the cameras but found no footage. They then headed to the trap’s site, only to find a storm had apparently destroyed it, and it was nowhere to be seen.

Some have suggested that Gustave did, in fact, manage to snare the goat and break free from the cage that trapped him.

**Nile crocodile comparison between a human. Photo via deviant art.**

However, nobody will ever know since the infrared cameras didn’t pick up anything the night of the storm.

More attempts were made to trap the crocodile, though each one was as futile as the last. The team reluctantly had to give up and head home; it seemed Gustave knew what they were up to.

All of this was captured on film for the documentary Capturing the Killer Croc, though the film’s outcome didn’t quite meet the title’s expectations.

Gustave was never captured, and the team was perhaps never even close to snaring the monstrous reptile.

The Deadly Legacy Of Gustave: Truth Or Fiction?

Should he still be alive, as of 2024, Gustave is roughly 68. His kill count has been estimated to have reached up to 300 unsuspecting humans, though this has been debated over the years.

While there’s no denying the huge crocodile could quite easily prey on humans, his desire to do so has been questioned over the years.

It’s been suggested that Gustave’s killer reputation has been wrongly bestowed upon him.

Instead, many people believe that the slew of missing people was due to the war that had broken out between rival Hutu and Tutsi ethnic factions in 1993, which led to the Burundian Civil War, which lasted until 2005.

The Rusizi River, which Gustave prowled in, separates Burundi from the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This area was rife with civil unrest and violence, much of which may have been attributed to the crocodile.

While some people believe Gustave’s kill count has been inflated over the years, there’s no doubt the crocodile poses a risk to humans.

He could very easily—and very likely has—dragged many humans to their deaths. Whether that figure is in the hundreds, as legend has it, remains unverified.

In the years after Capturing the Killer Croc was released, Gustave remained elusive.

His newfound fame made him a prime target for hunters and those keen to catch a glimpse of the monster, and it wasn’t until 2009 that he was spotted again in the Ruzizi River.

In the decade that followed, Gustave again kept a low profile. In 2019, it had been reported that he’d been killed, though these claims have not been verified.

The details of how and where he was slain remain unknown, causing many to believe it’s just a rumor and that Gustave is very much alive and well.

If someone had killed him, it’s plausible to think there would be evidence in the form of pictures. After all, many hunters have tried to slay the monster to no avail.

Gustave has survived multiple bullets and attempts on his life, so presumably, the hunter who took him down would offer some concrete proof of the kill.

Many believe the giant croc is alive and still prowling the waters of Burundi, still growing as the years go by.

After all, crocodiles never stop growing, meaning Gustave may be much bigger than he was when he was last spotted in 2009.

Even if parts of his story have been fictionalized or sensationalized, one thing is for certain: Gustave is one terrifying crocodile.