Mokele Mbembe ! Africa's Lochness Monster

We can never say that a creature is extinct unless we know about every corner in this earth well. Every year unknown creatures and creatures that were once thought to be extinct are discovered. Since most of them don’t fit the monster category, it raises very little attention.

The best known example is a fish called Coelacanth which was thought to be extinct for 65 million years. Since its fossil was prehistoric scientists said that its large fins evolved into legs and its descendants eventually walked out of the sea. But in 1930 a live coelacanth was actually filmed. If such a fish could have survived undetected for all these years then why cant other prehistoric creatures do the same thing.


Since man took his very first journey into the sea, they are stories of encounters about strange creatures that live in the deep oceans. Even in famous books such as the bible there are stories about creatures that come in the name of Dragons, Sea serpents, Flying serpents, Leviathan and Behemoth.

Mokele Mombele

The worlds largest swamp lies in the central Africa and its called the liquola swamp/ African Congo.The government has officially declared that 80% of it is unexplored because most of the areas area are inaccessible due to thick vegetation.It is situated on the equator,95 oC all the time.

Well the whole story began when explorers started exploring the area and came up with reports saying that there are dinosaurs living in the swamp.During that time the word “dinosaurs” was not known. A south African Big game hunter Mr Gobler returned from a trip to the swamp and announced that he saw an animal of huge dimensions living in those swamps. and was 100% sure that it was something new to science.But for the locals, the animal was a very familial creature and they call Mokele Mbembe.The creature is said to be about 20 feet in length,having a huge body,long neck and a thick long tail. It does sound like a sauropod, but to our surprise, when a photograph of a sauropod is shown to the pygmies/locals, they identify it as Mokele Mbembe.


Mokele Mbembe is said to live in the pools and rivers close to the swamps.It is a semi aquatic creature that spends most of its time underwater and only comes out of water for food. It is a herbivore and its favourite plant is the malambo plant.It is said to be highly territorial and aggressive and protects its territory from other competitors such as hippos,elephants and crocodiles. Consistent with this fact, is that Hippos are never found in the areas where mokele mombele lives.There are also reports where mokele mombele overturn boats and have killed the people but there are n't any reports of Mokele Mbembe eating humans.


There is a local story about a killing of a Mokele Mbembe in 1930,by the local pygmies. The story begins with the fact that the pygmies had built a barrier of stakes to prevent the mokele mbembel from entering the lake,so that they can fish safely.But 2 Mokele Mbembes had started attacking the wall. The pygmies However had speared one of the animals to deatha and to celebrate the victory,the pygmies cooked the animal and feasted over its flesh.But all the pygmies who ate the meat died.After this incident,pygmies started beliving that the creature has mythical and magical powers.The actual reason for death could be food poisoning or a natural cause and as a matter of fact an animal of that size could have provided food for weeks.

Since 1880’s many expeditions were taken by many scientists and explorers and But none of them gave a proper proof. Photos of the creatures footprints and samples of feaces were obtained.The footprints were large and wide and it clealy supports the fact that the animal that made this footprint should have had claws at the tips of each toe.Other photographic evidences that were obtained are fuzzy and does not give any clear indication of the creature.

Dr Roy Mackal, a microbiology professor at university of Chicago made an expedition in 1980.He had made several sightings of the creature and he is fairly convinced that the creature is a smaller version of a sauropod.

Marcellin Agnagna is a biologist from Congo who has also reportedly seen the creature. In one of the seminars, He drew the sketch on board of what he saw.He said that on May 1, 1983, he and members of his party came across a Mokele-mbembe in the Congo’s remote Lake Tele.12 It had a wide back, a long neck, and a small head. The front of it was brown, and its back appeared black. It was in the shallow water of the lake, and the length visible above the waterline was about five metres (16 feet).It can be said with certainty that the animal we saw was Mokele-mbembe, that it was quite alive, and, furthermore, that it is known to many inhabitants of the Likouala region.

In 1981 Herman Regusters from Los angeles took an expedition and he came back with a photogragh of a dinosaur like creature. Regusters said that the humidity is so bad over there just survival is a full time job. Keeping the equipment dry and serviceable is another whole set of problems. And then being alert enough when you do get a five or ten second glimpse of something to do something with it is another whole set of problems.

Anyways i am aware of the fact that this is the 21st century, but we should also consider the fact that we have not explored our planet fully especially the vast waters of the deep Oceans. The Congo Swamp is still an unexplored area, plenty of expeditions are taking place every year, and most of them come back with negative results. Let us just hope, one day or the other that some lucky scientist or an explorer could get a snapshot of a Mokele Mbembe, if it Exists.