In the time of dinosaurs it was not uncommon to find a sauropod. It’s large body supported by its massive four legs, using its long neck to feed on the various tree leaves and fruit or searching the depths of the water for various water plants. If an un-welcomed intruder passes by he better not get too close or suffer the wrath of its long wip-like tail. Since the extinction of the dinosaurs, there have been fossils of more than 1000 different kinds of dinosaur species found around the Earth. Could dinasours still be roaming the earth?
Mokele Mbembe Dinosaur or Monster?
In the Congo’s of Africa there are native folklore of a monster, perhaps a small Brontosaurus called Mokele Mbembe, living and roaming the area of Lake Tele. The earliest sightings have occurred around 1776, sightings still occur today. The animal is said to make a series of snorts and grunts that can be heard off from great distances. It is this sound that has attracted the curiosity of people in the area which upon further examination at times result in an encounter of what many people describe something dragon like as massive as the mighty elephant. They call this monster, Mokele Mbembe.
Several Mokele Mbembe sightings have occurred and are well documented. One account described tracks found near the river in 1776 as “We never saw the beast, but it had to be monstrous”. The french priest who observed the fresh massive footprints from a large beast noted the claw marks it made in the ground with the above referenced entry. Another encounter in 1909 left the witnesses feeling like they have seen something out of some medieval fairytale, the creature was described as half dragon and half elephant. I myself can’t picture such a creature but it must have been terrifying walking up upon such a monster or dinosaur as this being unsure if it was a meat eater.
Expeditions were contracted to get to the bottom of these rumors of this dinosaur the native residents called Mokele Mbembe. In one such expedition the natives were shown pictures and sketches of a sauropod dinosaur, they said that yes this was Mokele Mbembe, this was the creature they have been seeing all these years in the jungles around Lake Tele. In 1981, near the Likouala River, one expedition heard very large splashes in the waters around the area. A police officer at the scene said that he was within 30-40 feet of the creature that left smashed plants and trees as well as large footprints in the banks of the river.
The native people are very acquainted with this water enjoying creature roaming in the Likoula swampland. They call it “Mokele-Mbembe” when translated from their native tongue means “one who stops the flow of rivers”. The local peoples believe the dinosaur is sacred or some type of god. It is said that once one was killed and many in the tribe died after eating the meat of the creature. The natives now live in fear of the curse of the creature so many natives steer clear of the thick swamp which is considered the monster’s domain.
Numerous scientists acknowlege that this dinosaur, “Mokele-Mbembe”, may genuinely exist because coelacanths, which were once believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period , have been caught off the eastern sea-coast of South Africa, near the Chalumna River in 1938.
This dinosaur remains elusive still today, in 1913 a bounty of $3 million dollars was established by the Smithsonian Institute in the United States, for the capture of the “Mokele-Mbembe”, dead or alive . Even with the occasional reported sighting of this creature and many expeditions to the area, the reward still goes unclaimed.
