Mokele Mbembe (Sidebar 5)

In the Congo, the natives have a name for a creature that translates "eater of the tops of palms" in the Bomitabi dialect and the "one who stops the flow of rivers" in the Lingala dialect. The Bomitabi call the animal emeula natuka; the Lingala people call it mokele mbembe. In the 17^th century, when Europeans first made contact with the natives of what is currently Zaire, Gabon, Cameroon, Uganda, and the Congo, they reported the natives' description of an animal that is "half elephant and half serpent" (Regusters, 1981). The descriptions of the animal were similar even though they were from different cultures and geographical locations. One account is recorded in a book by Abbe Proyhart (1776) describing giant clawed footprints that he had seen in west central Africa. He claimed that the track of footprints was three feet across. These stories were increasingly circulated when missionaries began to go to Africa in the 19^th century. Also during the 19^th century, a Scottish explorer named Alfred Aloysius Horn saw large three-toed footprints that he described as being "as large as a frying pan." Although he did not see the animal, he told of the natives' stories—that the "giant diver" lived in the swamps and rivers and would come out of the water and eat people alive.

In 1913, a German expedition in Africa encountered a group of Pygmies who described the mokele mbembe as an animal about the size of an elephant or hippopotamus with a long, flexible neck and a long tail like an alligator's. They said that it would attack and kill animals and people, but it was only herbivorous. In 1932, the British cryptozoologist Ivan Sanderson, while exploring in Africa, found large footprints the size of a hippo's, but he was in an area where there were no hippos. He also saw a large animal in the water, but it disappeared before he could see it well.

In 1980, Dr. Roy Mackal, a biologist from the University of Chicago and herpetologist James Powell went to the Congo Basin in the People's Republic of the Congo to find evidence for the existence of the animal. The Congo Basin covers 800,000 square miles of swamp forest. They did not see anything, but they gathered many stories from the local people. Apparently, in 1959, the natives set up stakes as a barrier to prevent large animals from disturbing them as they fished in Lac Tele (in the Congo Basin). Mokele mbembe tried to break through the barrier, and the people killed it with spears. They then cut the animal up and took the meat back to the village, but they said that everyone who ate the meat died soon after eating it. Mackal gathered other eyewitness reports of seeing the animal as recently as 1979. Mackal and Powell returned to the Congo in 1981, and they saw large, unusual footprints. As they were traveling in their canoe, they heard a loud splash as a large animal dove into the water. The Africans with them yelled Mokele mbembe, but they did not see anything.

Also in 1981, Herman Regusters led an expedition to the Congo. Regusters was working on instrumentation for collecting geophysical data, and he decided to try to use his equipment to explore the uncharted Congo Basin. Because they went during the rainy season, the forest was standing in water. The group, together with some hired Africans, carried the half-ton of equipment (including infrared cameras, high-intensity illuminators, weapons, communication gear, solar collectors, and battery packs) for five days through the swamp to Lac Tele. The whole group was completely wet the whole five days of walking through sometimes chest-deep water. Lac Tele is 3 km by 2.5 km, and has 10 lobes along the western shore. They could not determine the exact depth of the lake (at least 200 meters), and visibility was eliminated at about 10-15 centimeters below the surface. They observed an unknown animal in the lake on five occasions during their stay. The first time they all (except the photographer) saw "a long, neck-like member" above the lake surface moving along quickly for about five minutes. It was sighted by various people two other times. Several days later, Regusters and his wife heard a loud animal cry unlike any other. The cry was followed by the sounds of an animal crashing through the forest. They could not find its path, due to the marshy nature of the forest, but all the members of the group heard the cry on other occasions, and they did record it. The voice recordings do not match any other known jungle animal. The Africans said that it was the mokele mbembe. The next sighting, about a kilometer away, was of a "very large object moving through the water" leaving a visible wake behind it. It appeared to be dark brown and smooth surfaced. Several days later, two members of the scientific team heard the cry and then heard the splash of "something huge entering the water." Later that day, Regusters' wife was in a boat and a long serpent-like neck emerged from the water about 30 meters away, looking right at her. "The broad neck tapered into a slender head about two meters above the water" (Regusters, 1982). She noted that it appeared dark gray and smooth before it disappeared straight down into the murky water again. It was only visible for approximately 5 seconds, and she was too startled to take a picture.

The Regusters group did take some pictures, but they are diagnostically inconclusive. They had problems with their equipment—the camera and video film molded, the intense humidity rusted and ruined some of it, and insects ate through their leather and clothes. Almost all of the group also contracted parasites and were ill with dysentery. The Regusters' expedition, though it did not explain or identify the strange animal sightings, added credibility to the sightings and demonstrated that there is some unidentified animal in the Congo Basin.

In 1983, Marcellin Agnagna, a Congolese biologist who had previously accompanied Mackal, says that he saw mokele mbembe wading in Lac Tele. He said that he saw the long neck and the head, but the legs and tail were in the water. He videotaped it, but unfortunately, he forgot to take off the lens cover.

In 1988, a Japanese group went to the Congo to try to find the elusive animal, but they saw no evidence. They did talk to the village people, and gathered more eyewitness reports—some as recent as February of 1988 (Takabayashi, 1988).

In 1992, a Japanese film crew was flying over Lac Tele videotaping stock footage for a documentary, when they saw and taped a large shape moving across the surface of the water. They saw a "vertical protuberance" in front which could be a long neck, and a second, shorter hump behind which could have been a body or tail. It left a large V-shaped wake behind it. From the tape, it has been demonstrated that the animal was neither a crocodile nor an elephant, and it could not be identified as any known animal.

All these reports are certainly interesting and seem to show that there is an animal in the thick forests of the Congo that has not been identified. Some believe that this animal is a living representative of the sauropod dinosaurs, however, the evidence is still inconclusive at the time. The Regusters group made an audio recording of the animal in Lac Tele and made voice analysis printouts. The voice analysis did not match any of the noises made by other animals, but there is a "pop" sound after the roar that is characteristic of crocodiles and other reptiles. The accompanying sound clip is of the roar of the unknown animal, however the other jungle noises are somewhat overbearing. Regusters describes the cry as "starting with a low, windy roar, then increasing to a deep-throated trumpeting growl" (Regusters, 1982).

Regusters, H.A. 1982. "Mokele Mbembe: An investigation into rumors concerning a strange animal in the Republic of the Congo, 1981" Munger Africana Library Notes issue 64.

Takabayashi, T. 1988. "The first Japanese-Congolese Mokele Mbembe Expedition" Cryptozoology 7:66 - 69.

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