For centuries Africa remained an unknown mysterious continent for Europeans. It was believed that ancient creatures could still live on the "black" continent, and that is why numerous scientific expeditions sought to Africa. There were even more of those who counted on scientific sensation than treasure hunters. In our review of 10 amazing creatures that supposedly lived in Africa not so long ago.
1. Mokele-Mbembe
Half-dragon-half-elephant Mokele-Mbembe
In 1912, one of the world's most famous naturalists was convinced that a prehistoric creature lived in the depths of Africa. Karl Hagenbeck was an early pioneer in the field of zoology and the humane treatment of animals. During his trip to Rhodesia, he learned several stories about the half-dragon-half-elephant that lives in the remote marshes of this region. Presumably, there are ancient rock paintings depicting this creature. But the expedition sent by Hagenbeck failed and returned without any new information.
The following year, Germany sent Captain Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz to explore the swampy jungles of West Africa and Cameroon. The expedition was to map the region, collect botanical specimens, and document any new species of animals it found. The expedition was withdrawn due to the outbreak of war, and its reports sunk into obscurity for decades until they were published by naturalist Willie Leigh.
According to Lei, the Germans discovered what Hagenbeck was talking about earlier: a prehistoric creature. Von Stein zu Lausnitz called it Mokele-Mbembe and stated that the elephant-sized creature has a long alligator-like tail, a neck that resembles a brontosaurus, and a long horn or tooth protruding from its head.
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2. Ninki Nanka
Prehistoric monitor lizard Ninki-Nanka
Richard Freeman is an explorer who recently traveled to Africa in search of one of the continent's most elusive creatures. According to legend, Ninki-Nanka is a huge reptile, somewhat similar to a crocodile. Some of the locals even claim that the creature can spit fire. Most people, however, say that the creature has a horse-like head, ridges or wings, and that the length of Ninki-Nanka is about 50 meters.
According to those who believe in Ninki Nanka, there is very little information available about this creature because those who see it will soon die. Freeman, a former zoo worker, is convinced that there is a rational explanation for this cryptozoological phenomenon - Ninki-Nanka may be one of the previously unknown forms of the monitor lizard.
3. The incident in Ariel
Mysterious objects
To begin with, when Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack spoke with eyewitnesses to an encounter with extraterrestrial life in 1994, he concluded that the contactees were telling the truth. On September 16, 1994, about 60 children, ages 5 to 12, were playing outside their school on the outskirts of Zimbabwe's capital when they saw a large spaceship, as well as several smaller ships, sailing over the forest. The device landed near the playground, after which, according to the children, strange creatures approached them. All the children described them as small people with long black hair and huge eyes. The contact lasted about 15 minutes. Curiously, up to this point, the children did not have the slightest idea about UFOs.
4. Marosi
Lonely lion marosi
Marosi ("lone lion") is a spotted cat that has been spotted throughout East and Central Africa. According to eyewitnesses, the creature is smaller than an ordinary lion. Although it resembles its more famous brother, the Marosi's coat is covered with gray-brown spots all over the back and sides.
In 1931, farmer Michael Trent shot and killed a pair of spotted lions that were attacking cattle on his farm. In 1933, explorer Kenneth Gundar Dover went on an expedition to the mountains of Kenya to find an unusual beast that was considered a half-lion-half-leopard. However, he returned empty-handed, finding only unusual tracks. The question remains open to this day. Some people claim that the spotted lion is just a myth, while others claim that they saw it with their own eyes.
5. Kongamato
Flying Lizard Kongamato
Explorer Frank Melland traveled to south-central Africa to spend some time living among the Kaonde tribe in 1912. At this time, the locals told him about a creature called congamato (literally, "flipping boats"). Melland devoted an entire section of his book to this creature, as it plays an important role in kaonde culture. He also noted that the kaonde had an enchantment to protect them from the congamato, a lizard-like creature with a 1–2m span of bat wings. When Melland showed some of the witnesses a drawing of a pterodactyl, they confirmed it was a congamato.
6. Umdglebi tree
Umdglebi tree
Cryptobiology is a science that searches for and describes undocumented plants. Moreover, they are often very strange plants. When missionary Henry Callaway published a report on the Zulu religious system in 1870, he told the story of the umdglebi, a tree so deadly that skeletons literally littered the ground around it.
Any bird that landed on a tree branch would die. The preacher also said that the tree sometimes uttered a strange cry, similar to the bleating of a sheep. Callaway saw people who died due to the effects of a tree, which was so poisonous that it could kill an entire village.
7. Fist
Fist
French explorer Paul du Chaillet became the first person to come into contact with pygmies and the first to see a gorilla, an animal previously thought to be mythical. When he described his research on African primates, he described four different creatures: the gorilla, the chimpanzee, the mbuwe, and the kulakamba, which was named after its remarkable screams. According to du Chaillet, the kulakamba was characterized by large brow ridges, a small snout, large ears, and a larger skull than chimpanzees. The animal was familiar to people living in the territory of modern Gabon and Cameroon.
8. Emela-Ntuka
Emela-Ntuka = dinosaur ceratops
Emela-Ntuka is such a mysterious creature that it is described as a hoofed mammal, then as a reptile. But one thing in the descriptions remains unchanged: Emel-ntuk has a very nasty character and a single horn that allows him to kill elephants and other large animals with one blow. The size of an elephant-sized emel-ntuk, and it also has crocodile-like folds around its neck. The first reports of emela-ntuk date back to around 1913.
Researcher Hans Schomburgk collected stories about this creature from the inhabitants of the Klao tribe in Liberia. Although emela-ntuka was herbivorous, it killed everything that came in its path. When Roy Makal traveled to Congo in 1981 to search for a mokele mbembe, he encountered several references to emela ntuk. Makal decided that it might be a ceratopsian dinosaur that has survived to this day.
9. Firefighters-bloodsuckers
Firefighters-bloodsuckers
Even in the 20th century, indigenous tribes in some parts of Africa believed that colonial police officers and firefighters were actually vampires who did not help people, but used them as food. In 1947, a macabre story about a local fire brigade spread in Mombasa. The man claimed to have seen firefighters who kidnapped the sleeping woman and took her to his station. Allegedly, these firefighters were also seen a little later with buckets of blood. This was not the only time firefighters and police were suspected of vampirism in Kenya.
10. Popobava
Terrifying Popobava
In February 1995, chaos erupted on Pemba Island when the family announced that she had been attacked by a creature called Popobava. The creature was named after a monster that allegedly raped sleeping men in the same area decades ago.
The creature was described as a dwarf with one eye in the middle of the forehead, small sharp ears, wings and claws of a bat. Panic on the island spread so much that people all over the island began spending the night outside near bonfires next to their neighbors. The next month, panic erupted again when reports of popobava reappeared. The killings began on Pemba. At least six people were killed because they were suspected of being on the sidelines.
