Africa is a land of secrets and mysteries. Hidden in its jungle are abandoned, once prosperous cities. Here you can find samples of flora and fauna dating back to the early geological eras. And the most bizarre tribes in the world live in Africa, for example, the agogwe - hairy humanoid creatures. True, there is no official information about them.
Red-haired dwarfs
If you believe the legends, you can meet agogwe in the forests of Ussur and Simbit, located in the western part of the Wimbar Plain. Eyewitnesses report that the creatures look like pygmies, but their body is completely covered with reddish hair. Despite the fact that agogwe is no more than 120 centimeters tall, the locals never confuse them with monkeys. Agogwe are erect and live with their offspring in the jungle.
These creatures also caught the eye of Europeans. One of them was the famous cryptozoologist William Hitchens, who noted that meeting with forest dwellers is considered a bad omen for Aboriginal people. According to legend, these small, furry creatures can be seen only once in a lifetime. And if they visit the village, then black times await it, for example, an epidemic or a death of livestock.
Shaggy eaters and vegetarians
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Evidence of various tribes of wild people comes from East Africa, in particular from Tanzania and Mozambique. But they are called differently everywhere. Thus, the people of the Congo call them kakundakari and kilomba. They also walk on two legs, are covered with hair and live in the forest, but their height is much taller than that of the agogwe (about 168 centimeters).
In the middle of the last century, Charles Cordier, a professional animal hunter, repeatedly tried to trace where the kakundakari, discovered by him in Zaire, were hiding. But the attempts were unsuccessful due to the dexterity of the forest man. According to Cordier, the kakundakari fell into one of the bird traps, but did not lie idle, but "quickly turned over, sat down, removed the noose from his leg, got up and disappeared before the African standing next to him could do anything."
The Ardipithecs are an ancient genus of hominids that lived in the Early Pliocene approximately 5.8-4.4 million years ago. Researchers claim that they are very similar to agogwe.
Many zoologists are convinced that a few relics of ancient fauna still live in Africa. Many native Africans believe they are human / chimpanzee hybrids. Observations show that these creatures feed on animals, know how to arrange nets woven from herbs in a special way, gouge out primitive boats for crossing rivers …
They carry small handbags made of animal skins with them. They are credited with a rare bloodthirstiness. The natives are sure that their furry neighbors are cannibals, and that both human flesh and the meat of dead fellow tribesmen are a delicacy for them. Unable to save meat, they eat their victims piece by piece, leaving them alive. First, they chop off a leg and devour it with appetite, the next day, a hand, and so on … However, they do not disdain corpses either.
Inhabitants of the eastern and southeastern regions of Africa claim that there are creatures of ordinary height, sometimes covered with hair and sometimes not. Locals call them nanaunder. The forehead of these creatures is slightly sloping, and the arms are very long, which gives them some resemblance to monkeys. Nanaunder are found mainly in Zaire and Kenya. They also live in thickets of forests or impenetrable tropics of highlands.
They feed mainly on plant foods and do not attack humans. Sometimes they were noticed with long sticks in their hands, with the help of which nanaunder, probably, defend themselves from predators. According to scientists, these harmless creatures once lived in the savanna, but then were driven out of there by man into the jungle.
Australopithecus is alive
Cryptozoologists do not deny that some species of ancient anthropoid apes, or hominids, may well have survived in secluded corners of the planet. Someone sees in the forest people Australopithecus, someone is trying to connect them with the Neanderthals … Each hypothesis has both pros and cons. For example, geneticists came to the conclusion that crossing Neanderthals with modern-day people could not give viable offspring. And the level of culture among the Neanderthals was still higher than that of the described African hominids.
So, Neanderthals buried their dead, filling the grave with flowers, which may indicate the rudimentary forms of religion … If hairy people are their descendants, then we have a vivid example of degradation. In a primitive way of life, the agogwe and their "relatives" resemble both Australopithecines and Homo erectus. But the latter lived, respectively, 900,000 and 400,000 years ago.
Tales of agogwe are spread over an area stretching over 1000 kilometers, from southwestern Kenya to Tanganyika and beyond to Mozambique … The Science Society of East Africa and Uganda reported that the mountains of the Kwa Ngomye region are inhabited by buffaloes, wild pigs and small redheads. little men. The strange creatures bravely defend their food base, usually throwing uninvited guests with a hail of stones.
Locals not only distinguish strange neighbors from monkeys, but also stop white hunters when they try to shoot suspicious "gnomes". Aboriginal people tell semi-fantastic tales about how representatives of the agogwe take food and beer from people, and at night they come to work off their debt, weeding the beds. There are also stories about cases of captivity of people by "gnomes". One of these stories tells of a shepherd who wandered in the mountains in search of a strayed sheep until he came across a trail of blood.
Suddenly, strange little creatures surrounded him, shorter than pygmies. They had no tails, but they looked more like monkeys than people. The creature's skin was as pale as the belly of a lizard, but long black hair grew over its face and body. With the help of his spear, the shepherd got out of the encirclement. The men described are very reminiscent of Australopithecus, whose fossilized remains were found in the Kalahari.
Once upon a time, African pygmies were considered fiction
The Australopithecines walked on only two legs and had almost human body proportions. Even in terms of brain volume, they were closer to humans than to monkeys. For example, in adult Australopithecines, the brain volume was equal to 500-600 cubic centimeters - almost double that of chimpanzees, and no less than that of a gorilla! At the same time, Australopithecines were much smaller than such monkeys. Their growth on average did not exceed 120 centimeters, and their weight was 40-50 kilograms.
Some experts even suggest that Australopithecines were fluent in speech and knew how to use fire. However, there is no evidence of this. Maybe the rumors about forest people owe their origin to the Australopithecus tribe, who survived in the wilderness of the virgin forests? Persecuted by their stronger and more developed "relatives" - primitive people, they could take refuge in an impenetrable forest thicket or on deserted mountain peaks …
Every year, research enthusiasts discover new species of animals that until recently were considered mythical. They used to include the platypus, giant panda and okapi.
It has long become clear that the predecessors of modern man did not always successively replace each other on the evolutionary tree: they could live in the same epoch next to each other and, probably, even "kept in touch." So why not assume that there, in the vastness of the most mysterious earthly continent, our distant relatives roam?
Elena GIMADIEVA