History … History …
Legend or reality ?
The Congo Basin Monster : A Dragon ? a giant crested snake in the African swamps ?
« Mokélé Mbembé » is his name !
In the heart of the second green lung of the planet, hides a mysterious beast.
The Mokélé-mbembé (name given by our pygmies from the region of the likouala marshes) which actually means « the one who is able to stop the flow of the river ».
The Mokélé-mbembé, is a large unidentified creature believed to live or have lived in the tributaries of the famous Congo River.
For many years, testimonies have been pouring out about the existence of this animal which is thought to live between Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon.
The first testimony on the existence of the monster dates from 1776, from Abbé Liévin Bonaventure Proyart, a French missionary and Aloyius Smith, an adventurer. Both testified to the existence of this animal from the end of the 19th century in the marshes of northern Congo and Gabon. They found incredible prints of « three feet in circumference » each separated by some 2.5cm, showing claws. One of the missionaries even claims to have seen the animal having a meal in a river.
A second testimony of the Monster dates back to 1916. Captain Vob Stein, an officer in the German army, was exploring part of present-day Cameroon at that time in order to collect information on flora and fauna.
The pygmies themselves speak of Mokélé-mbembé, perfectly describing the animal as it is described today by the pygmies of the great equatorial forest.
There are many testimonies, both in southern Cameroon and northern Congo, in Gabon and in the Central African Republic.
A third testimony appears, that of Robert Lehuard on the Congo River, who claims to have witnessed the fight between a crocodile and an animal with the appearance of a sauropod with a long tail and long neck to which he gives about ten meters long.
Following these testimonies, two major expeditions will be led by the Americans : Mackal and the Regusters couple in 1980.
Mackal for his part explored the Likouala river and collected a lot of testimonies and major thing, the description of the fruit on which the animal would feed.
Later, he testifies that during his expedition, his canoe would have been violently shaken by an aquatic animal that neither he nor his team had seen.
Regarding the Regusters couple, the expedition seemed extraordinary since the two explorers would have seen the Mokélé-mbembé and the latter would indeed be a dinosaur. They say I quote : « the dinosaur took its head out of the water. Walked 300 m and dived again. The expedition saw the beast again on November 1 and 2. Two days later we heard cries at the end of the lake … «
(this is Lac Télé)
There are other testimonies. Notably that of Marcellin Agnagna on Lake Télé in 1983, that of a Japanese team still on Lake Télé in 1992, and that of Max Sabatier in the south-east of Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Congo in 1992.
Know that in some pygmy groups, talking about the Mokélé-mbembé brings bad luck, meeting him comes down to a sunken canoe and even the death of the crew.
To date, the expeditions have given nothing but the legend exists and remains very present !
Have you already met the Mokélé-mbembé ???
Can you testify ???
# LacTélé
#MokeleMbembe #DestinationCongoBrazzaville
