The Baka tribe in the Congo knows about a creature that they call Jeiba Fofi, that is, "a huge spider".
He is present in many legends and legends. Usually he is classified as a creature of the same kind as Bigfoot or Nessie.
Jeyba Fofi became famous in 2008, when he appeared in the TV series Monster Quest. But reports of encounters with the giant spider have surfaced for centuries.
Missionary Arthur Simes was the first Europeans to tell about him. He was attracted by Lake Nyasa, and in a dense forest near this reservoir, the members of the expedition saw a sticky web that only a spider of incredible size could weave.
Several people got stuck in it, and then spiders with a body length of at least a meter descended to them, which pounced on people.
In 1938, a certain Reginald Lloyd was driving with his wife on a road through the forest in Zimbabwe. On one of the trees they saw a spider comparable in size to a large cat. The spider had an external resemblance to a tarantula, but had longer legs, along with which eyewitnesses estimated its length at one and a half meters.
In the 1980s, the history of the Lloyds became known to the researcher William Gibbon, who was looking for another mysterious creature in the Congo - the lizard-like Mokele-mbembe.
Gibbon met with the Baka tribe and talked to them about Jeiba Fofi. He was told that the spider is real, and told about where he lives, how and whom he prefers to hunt. All this Gibbon told in the book he wrote.
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Jeiba Fofi prefer underground tunnels as their habitat. On the surface, they stretch their nets along the paths that the animals follow. Small mammals and birds become their main prey. Sometimes the spiders get the deer too.
It is believed that these spiders are incredibly strong and can easily defeat humans. Brown Fofi reach a length of 120 centimeters.
Jib Fofi's eggs with peanuts the size. Spiders appear from them, painted in yellow and purple colors.
Spiders often attack people. They are especially dangerous for children. The locals have a true hatred of Jeiba Fofi. If they manage to find a nest of spiders, then it is immediately destroyed and burned.
Baka say that spiders are becoming less and less, because people are gradually destroying their habitats. Modern science admits that very large spiders can live somewhere in the southern forests, but not as large as they say about Jiba Fofi.
Scientists say that the spider's exoskeleton limits its size to support its weight, and spiders breathe in such a way that becoming too large, they will experience problems with saturating the body with oxygen.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA