Mokele-Mbembe the monster of the African swamps

The mokele-mbembe is a creature whose existence has not yet been proven, which would live in the Likouala swamp region of Congo. Although there is no certain evidence about it, some local populations claim to have sighted the mysterious creature on several occasions, providing numerous details about it.

Since the early years of the seventeenth century, European travelers in Central Africa have reported the existence of a monstrous and mysterious creature. According to the French abbot Proyart, who published a history of Africa in 1776, some missionaries found traces with nail marks measuring over 90 centimeters at intervals of more than 2 meters.

The Pygmies of the swamps of Likouala, Congo, claim to have spotted several times the mysterious animal, which they call mokele-mbembe, described as a shy semi-aquatic creature, the size of an elephant, with four solid legs, a thin tail about 3 meters long and neck of almost 2 meters.

The animal leaves footprints on the ground in which three fingers can be seen, typical of certain sauropod dinosaurs but dissimilar to those of any known existing species.

In front of illustrations of various living or extinct animals, the Pygmies indicate in the sauropods those most similar to the mokele-mbembe. Similar reports come from neighboring Cameroon and Gabon, where the animal is called n’yamala.

In the 1980s, several scientific expeditions searched for decisive evidence of the existence of the strange creature. Roy Mackal, professor of zoology at the University of Chicago, led research teams to Congo in 1980 and 1981, without being able to meet the mokele-mbembe.

But by collecting important information, including that relating to the animal's main source of nutrition, a type of vine. In 1985 and 1992, British explorer Bill Gibbons added further local reports to the growing dossier.

The mokele-mbembe may not be the only living dinosaur in the Congo. There is talk of two others, one of which is aggressive and is called emele-ntouka. Big as an elephant, with longhorn and a heavy tail, it would be similar to the Monoclonius, a relative of the Triceratops.

The other, called mbielu-mbielumbielu, would be a bizarre creature, with a kind of dorsal crest, identified by the Pygmies with Stegosaurus. Could it be that some dinosaurs escaped evolution and still live in the swamps of the Congo? Only further exploration will unravel the mystery.