Mystery of Mokele Mbembe—a mysterious creature from Lake Tele

Mystery of Mokele Mbembe—a mysterious creature from Lake Tele

Ivan Sanderson and his partner Gerald Russell saw the river water begin to ripple wildly. Their boat rocked violently. From the dark water not far from them, slowly appeared a creature with a lizard-like head and a long neck, as if it had just appeared from the past. The creature stared at Sanderson and Russell coldly for a few seconds, then disappeared back into the water. Sanderson shuddered. Was that the legendary Mokele Mbembe?

More than 200 years ago, in 1776, a French missionary named Abbe Lievain Bonaventure discovered a mysterious footprint in the ground. The tracks were approximately one meter long in circumference and had three claws. Each trail is about two meters apart. If you look at the size of the trail circle, then this animal is definitely bigger than an elephant. But there's only one problem, elephants don't have claws.

This is the first documented report of the legendary Mokele Mbembe creature.

This mysterious creature is believed to live in Lake Tele and the flow of the Likouala river, which leads to Lake Tele in the Congo region, Africa. Just like his brother Nessie from Scotland, Mokele Mbembe is also believed to be a prehistoric creature that can survive the changing times.

Its unique name comes from the Lingala language and means "something that stops the flow of rivers. According to eyewitnesses, this creature has the characteristics of a body the size of a small elephant or a large rhinoceros, a long neck, a long tail, and a small head. The color is brown mixed with gray, and it is believed to be an herbivore. Several other eyewitnesses reported seeing the mane on the back of his neck. Local residents also say that this creature scares other animals in the river and likes to overturn local residents' boats that are passing by.

News about this creature reached the western world through British traders who stopped by in Africa. They heard about this creature from local residents and passed it from mouth to mouth to the ears of explorers and collectors of rare animals from the western world.

An encounter with this creature took place in 1932. A cryptozoologist from England named Ivan Sanderson and his partner Gerald Russell, who made an expedition to the Congo, found a large group of tracks like those of a hippopotamus. However, the area where he found the tracks did not have hippos, so Sanderson assumed that the tracks definitely did not belong to hippos. Local residents then told Sanderson that the tracks belonged to a creature named "Mgbulu eM'bembe".

 Later, as Sanderson and Russell were preparing to head for the Mainyu River, they heard a strange, terrifying roar coming from a cave near the river.

"It was the scariest sound I have ever heard; it sounded like an earthquake preparing to appear and explode." Sanderson said.

Following the sound, Sanderson and Russell saw the river water begin to ripple, then a dark creature with a lizard-like head and a long neck emerged from the water. The creature only stared at Sanderson and co. for a few seconds, then dove back into the river and disappeared. Sanderson later commented on the experience in the following words:

"We don't know what we saw, but the creature seemed to burn the retinas of my eyes. The creature looked like something that should have died millions of years ago. As a scientist, I should be happy, but the encounter was so terrible that I did not want to meet it again"

Another quite horrendous expedition occurred in 1983. At that time, Marcellin Agnagna, a zoologist from the Brazzaville Zoo, led an expedition to Lake Tele. When a colleague was cleaning the mud that stuck to his body on the edge of Lake Tele, the creature emerged from the water. Agnana heard the screams of her comrades and immediately ran to the lake. He saw the creature move around in the water for 20 minutes. He estimates the creature has a length of 5 meters. The color of the front of the body is brown, while the back is shiny black. Agnagna also described the creature as having a head like a crocodile, similar to Sanderson's description.

In 1985, William Gibbons, who conducted an expedition to Lake Tele, received information that in 1959, the pygmies who lived around the lake managed to catch an unknown giant creature. They dismembered the creature and ate it. According to the story, all the people from the pygmy tribe who ate the creature died mysteriously not long after. But according to them, there are still two giant creatures like that still living in Lake Tele. This led Gibbons to conclude that there was a group of Mokele Mbembe in Lake Tele. This argument is quite reasonable considering the sightings of this creature have started since 1776.

In 1992, William Gibbons returned to Lake Tele with explorer Rory Nugent. They explored the Bai River, Fouloukuo Lake, and Tibeke Lake, which were not shown on the map. Rory Nugent said he saw something shaped like a head emerge from the lake. But whether or not it was Mokele Mbembe's head cannot be said for sure.

Questions about Mokele Mbembe's identity have plagued researchers for more than a hundred years. What kind of creature is this? Some researchers have theorized that the local population may have mistakenly identified an elephant. However, Roy Mackal, a well-known cryptozoology expert, rejects this incorrect identification theory. According to him, reports of sightings came from various credible witnesses with various backgrounds.

Interestingly, in the 1960s, a young herpetologist named James Powell, who was interested in this story, made a trip to the Congo. There, he met an eyewitness who had met Mokele Mbembe. Powell then showed him some pictures of large animals. When it came to the picture of Diplodocus, a type of sauropod, the witness recognized it as Mokele Mbembe.

Although until now scientists have not been able to find authentic evidence of the existence of this creature, an important question that must be asked to those who doubt the existence of the Mokele Mbembe is: Did the Pygmies and local residents of the Congo conspire to make a hoax? I don't think so!

But like other cryptozoology creatures, Mokele Mbembe will continue to be viewed with skepticism by most. As long as we haven't caught this creature alive or dead, everyone will still think this creature is just a myth or a joke, just like other lake creatures around the world.

Hope you enjoy with this article, please leave your comment about what creatures or things we will discuss later, Thanks

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