There are many places on our planet that are notorious. One of them is the island of Envaitenet in Kenya, located on Lake Rudolf. It is no coincidence that the local population calls it Irretrievable.
According to legend, the island once hid a whole family from being sold into slavery. But the escapees were never found, despite the fact that Envaitenet is relatively small. And with them the search groups disappeared. Nevertheless, curiosity continues to push people to visit the lost place.
Lake Rudolph (it is also Lake Turkana)
LOST WORLD
Lake Rudolf is 312 kilometers long. Several rivers flow into it, but none flows out. Perhaps its remoteness from civilization is the reason that 12 thousand crocodiles live here.
Some individuals reach a length of 5 meters. It is surprising that reptiles do not touch people and animals. For example, goats boldly approach the shore between lying crocodiles to drink. The fact is that predators feed on Nile perches, of which there are a lot here.
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In addition to remoteness, there is another reason that crocodiles have not yet been exterminated. It's just that their skin cannot be used for the manufacture of bags and shoes due to specific horny growths formed due to the increased content of sodium carbonate in the water.
It was here, next to the lake, that anthropologists managed to find the most ancient human remains. Scientists have determined that people appeared in this area 2 million years ago and that they already walked on two legs, judging by the footprints found on volcanic rocks.
Maybe all these discoveries and the pristine nature of the local nature make researchers forget about the danger and visit this almost abandoned world again and again?
As they wrote in the magazine "Around the World", Envaitenet is named the South Island on the maps.
NO REFUND
The earliest surviving information about the island dates back to 1630. Then several families of natives began to live on Envaitenet, and over time a whole village was formed there. It is surprising that with such a rich emerald-green vegetation, there was not a single animal or bird.
It was also strange and frightening that plants, like hills of smooth stones, appeared and disappeared without a trace. And with the appearance of a new moon, the population of the island heard some screams, from which blood ran cold in their veins. It was impossible to distinguish who was shouting, man or animal. This nightmare could go on for an hour.
As time went on, the island seemed to have won its territory from people, creating here and there barriers of trees, the branches of which were closely intertwined and hardened. There was no way to overcome this obstacle.
But the island's worst surprise was the night ghosts, very human-like. After meeting with the ghost, the natives had temporary paralysis; they could lie motionless for days. And this is not a problem, but the trouble is that the appearance of an entity foretold future misfortunes.
Either a person was seriously injured, and quite by accident, or he could have been poisoned by his usual food, or get gangrene at the site of the scratch, or drown in shallow water.
And then some unknown scary voracious animals appeared on the island. Adults and children began to disappear, and none of them could be found. In a word, the once fertile island has turned into a real hell. Relatives and acquaintances who lived on the shore of the lake stopped visiting Envaitenet, fearing for their lives.
And when, a few months later, worried about the lack of news, they nevertheless crossed the rafts to the island, they found a completely empty village. There was not a soul in it, but household items, clothing, weapons - everything remained in place. No people were found.
RETURN OF THE NIGHTMARE
After some time, the scary stories about the island began to seem like a fairy tale. The Elmolo people again decided to build a settlement there and go about their usual business. They caught fish, exchanged it for other products, visited friends who remained on the shore - in a word, life went on as usual.
But one day, visiting relatives found empty houses and almost rotten fish. Just like the first time, only people disappeared, and things remained in their places. If we assume that the Elmolo themselves fled from the island, then the question arises, why did they not take anything with them and, most importantly, where could several dozen people disappear without a trace?
All of these stories could be taken as legends, but there are also official police documents about the incident on the island, dating back to 1935. That year, on Lake Rudolph, an English ethnographic expedition led by Sir Vivian Fush studied the life and traditions of the Elmolo tribe. Since scientists could expect interesting finds on the island, two members of the expedition were equipped there - Martin Shaflis and Bill Dyson, experienced people who knew the local conditions well.
It was agreed that in the evenings at a certain time they would give signals with lighted lamps, which meant that nothing had happened.
And so it was, but after a few days the signals were gone. The alarmed colleagues crossed over to the island, but did not find anyone. And not only people, but generally no signs of their presence here!
At the request of the leadership of the expedition, the local authorities equipped an airplane that circled over the island for several days, but to no avail. The promised reward for the successful search for scientists did not give anything either. The local population checked every blade of grass and every pebble on the island, every centimeter of the territory. But no bodies, no lamps, no other things were found.
Explorers again and again equipped expeditions in the hope of unraveling the island's mystery, but many of them met the same fate. Nowadays, the island is completely abandoned, no one wants to live there.
GHOST TOWN
People of the Elmolo tribe say that sometimes at night they saw a city shrouded in fog on the shore of the lake. It shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. Gradually, walls and towers rose from the fog. It is clearly seen that many of them have turned into ruins.
Optical illusion? But how to explain the sound coming from there? The character of the sound constantly changed from gentle to furious, reminiscent of a funeral song. The researchers noted that “after such
On visions, tribal members had long experienced muscle pain, severe headache, aversion to food, and a sharp decline in vision.
Pregnant women gave birth to ugly babies who soon died, and their bodies, despite the tropical climate, were mummified in a matter of hours.
It is interesting to read about miracles in books, but for the people of the Elmolo tribe, all this inspired horror and made it difficult to live. Therefore, the tribe moved away from the lake shore.
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
It is clear that riddles always need some kind of explanation. But here all the assumptions are fantastic. Samburu people who live here say that there are many huge cobras on the island.
Samburu believe that after death, the souls of elders, sorcerers and hunters migrate to snakes and take revenge on people for disturbed peace. More recently, during the expedition of Fush, on the night of the birth of the moon sambura was rented from Elmolo and brought to the island a tribute to snakes - milk. But if snakes killed people, how then to explain the absence of the bodies of the dead?
People of the Turkana tribe have their own version. They are engaged in breeding cows and roam with them on the plateau around the lake. From above, they see the lake and the island and assure that the outline of the latter resembles the figure of a sleeping woman.
In their opinion, this is the goddess of the earth and fertility - Neiytorgb. And since the goddess is still a woman, therefore it is the men who take it. Well, women also go to her for their men.
Elmolo explain what is happening with an evil fate gravitating over their tribe. They have reasons to think so. For a long time, their people were on the verge of extinction, and even now there are only a hundred people left.
The abbot of the local Catholic Church is sure that the members of the English expedition returned to the camp by boat, but the hurricane wind blowing in these parts sank the ship. And the population of the village was destroyed by a landing from a submarine. I wonder where the submarine is from in Lake Rudolph?
The geologists' version looks the most plausible. The lake is of volcanic origin, which means that it is possible that sometimes some gases are released from there, affecting the human psyche. Perhaps people under their influence throw themselves into the water, where they die.
Be that as it may, the secrets of the disappearance of people still remain secrets.
Galina MINNIKOVA