Back in the day, when I was calling myself “educating” people about Africa’s place in folklore and mythology, I wrote an article about the continent’s unknown beasts and mythical beings for Dragon magazine. Dragon was published by the people who were behind the renowned Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. I never was a gamer myself, but the article nonetheless had some influence. It was published in the June 1987 issue of Dragon, under the title “Out of Africa.” But I think “Into Africa” is a better reflection of what the article’s about. Here it is:Long before science-fiction writers began to populate outer space with bug-eyed aliens, the bards and skalds and other story-tellers of pre-industrial Earth peopled our own planet with imaginary beings of incredible number and variety. Regardless of culture or clime, human beings have dreamed of imaginary counterparts in unknown lands beyond the mountains and over the seas. These counterparts have become so embedded in human culture that today, even though the mountains and seas have been explored extensively without having found any mythical beings, those beings continue to exist in symbolic fashion. From the heraldic dragon to the boogeyman that hides behind the closet door at night, the beings imagined by our ancestors are still with us.Over the past two decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in the fabulous beings of the ancient past. In part, this resurgence is connected with a general revival of interest in fantasy as a literary genre. As well, it can be attributed to the advent of the fantasy role-playing game. Mythical beings are an integral part of these games, and volumes of compilations of monsters of the world are perused by Dungeonmasters who seek new perils for their underground realms.Sometimes, it seems, however, that the current interest in mythical beings is confined to those associated with the cultures of Western Europe, with a smattering of Oriental creatures added for good measure. The imaginary output of the cultures of North and South America, the Pacific, and Africa is omitted from most compilations of mythical beings. Such omission is especially apparent in the case of Africa.There are various reasons for these omissions. In some cases, the compiler deliberately leaves out products of the so-called “primitive mind.” One such compiler is Heinz Mode, who wrote in Fabulous Beasts and Demons (p. 13):“It may have been noticed that no mention has yet been made of ancient America or ancient Africa, the South Seas, and Australia. That these areas may in fact be largely left out is due to a fact already stated: namely that the idea of monsters arises at a relatively late stage of cultural development. The ancient American civilizations do show some rudimentary – perhaps independent – composite forms, but these are for the most part ill-defined and it is often difficult to distinguish between monsters and human figures masked or disguised in animal skins. Ideas of magic, totemic customs, and animistic equation of different natural spheres may have led to some of the ideas underlying the shapes that interest us here. But it seems that these never brought about a true creation of new beings in a distinct visual form. For this reason, we shall largely have to leave out these areas of civilization if we want to keep to our subject, though in individual cases reference will be made to possible connections. The observation that monsters were not created originally by the so-called ‘primitive’ peoples, as one might have expected, but are in fact to a large extent the product of highly developed civilizations is surprising enough.”Mode’s surprise might have been even greater had he met the chemosit of East Africa. The chemosit is described as part human, part bird. It has one leg and nine buttocks. Its red mouth shines like a lamp at night. Whatever else it may be, the chemosit is unquestionably “a new being in distinct visual form.” Not only that, but the name chemosit is also given to an animal that seems to be an amalgam of ape and hyena. We will meet this second manifestation of the chemosit later in this essay.The chemosit is not unique. As you will see, there are many other mythical beings in Africa that fit Mode’s (or anybody else’s) definition of a “monster.”Descriptions of some of these beings may be found in such compilations as Perle Epstein’s Monsters, Peter Costello’s The Magic Zoo, and Jose Luis Borges’ celebrated The Book of Imaginary Beings. None of the above volumes, however, mentions more than a scant few of the imaginary inhabitants of Africa. Also, in the Costello and Borges compilations, the African beings they cite lack true African provenance. Creatures such as the Catoblepas, a bovine with a head too heavy to carry upright, and the Amphisbaena, a snake with heads at both ends of its body, are products of the European imagination rather than the African.The search for true African mythical beings must, therefore, begin with African sources. The beings have always been there; as the continent continues to emerge from its centuries-long nightmare of slavery and colonialism, the true extent of the output of the African imagination will become apparent to the fantasists, scholars, and gamers of this part of the world. This essay represents only one small scratch on a vast surface.Unknown BeastsAt first glance, a distinction between “unknown beasts” and “mythical beings” may seem superfluous. Aren’t both kinds of creature equally products of the imagination? The answer to that question is, “Yes and no.”In the lore of most African cultures, there are two categories into which beings we consider imaginary may be sorted: natural and supernatural. The natural category would include animal species that have not yet been described and classified by zoologists, but are nonetheless considered by Africans to be as much a part of the local fauna as lions and leopards. These elusive beasts of river, forest, and plain could be considered in the same light as the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland or the Sasquatch of North America – animals whose existence has not been verified scientifically, but are still more likely to fall into the purview of biologists rather than anthropologists. Supernatural beings belong more to the realm of folklore and mythology.Often, natural and supernatural beings are lumped together as products of ignorance and superstition. Still, as Belgian zoologist Bernard Huevelmans points out in On the Track of Unknown Animals, zoos all over the world now contain specimens of the gorilla, the okapi, and the pygmy hippopotamus – all of which were once dismissed as products of native superstition. There may be others …Africa is a continent of rivers, with the Nile, the Congo and Niger systems ranking among the largest in the world. There are also several great lakes surpassed in size only by those in North America. These bodies of water teem with a countless variety of fish, as well as hippopotamus, crocodile, and water birds.Formidable as the hippo and crocodile are, even they are sometimes forced to retreat when confronted by the unknown beasts that share their environment. One dangerous rival is the dingonek, a fifteen-foot-long creature with a head like that of a lioness or otter; long, saber-like fangs; thick scales like those of an armadillo; and a long, broad tail. The dingonek’s body is covered with leopard-like spots, and its bulk rivals that of a hippo. Its feet bear reptilian claws.Even more impressive than the dingonek is the chepekwe, which appears to be part rhinoceros and part elephant, with little or no trace of the reptilian in its makeup. The chepekwe is as big as a small elephant. Like the Indian rhinoceros (but unlike the African), the chepekwe bears a single horn on its nose. Its habitat is the swampy regions of the Katanga district of Congo (formerly Zaire).A similar water-beast is the nzefu-loi, which dwells in the Lualaba River. Although its name means “water elephant,” the nzefu-loi does not look like an elephant. The shape of its body is comparable to a hippo’s, but unlike the hippo it ha a long neck surmounted by a relatively small head. The head is armed with short, heavy, downward-pointing tusks. Despite its saurian configuration, the nzefu-loi sports a long, hairy tail like that of a horse.The nsanga looks very much like the Komodo monitor lizard, which is officially the world’s largest lizard, growing to a length of ten to twelve feet. The nsanga beats that record, as some of them have been reported to stretch as long as fifteen feet. Its lifestyle is similar to that of the crocodile, which the nsanga sometimes chases from choice feeding-grounds. Although the nsanga does not possess the fearsome jaws of a crocodile, it compensates with agility and razor-sharp claws.The badigui lives in the Ubangi-Shari river system in what is now the Central African Republic. The grandfather of all snakes, the badigui has sufficient size and strength to crush a crocodile in its coils. When it ventures out of the water, this gigantic serpent leaves a track as wide as the body of a Land Rover. As for length, one witness saw only the upper portion of a badigui – and that was twenty-five feet long!Not all of Africa’s unknown water-dwellers are reptilian or pachydermal. The morou-ngou is decidedly feline in form. At ten to twelve feet in length, the morou-ngou appears to be an oversized panther adapted to an aquatic environment. Its smooth, otter-like coat can be either striped or solid-brown in hue. Although the previously mentioned animals are not directly dangerous to humans, the morou-ngou is very inimical indeed. Often, it will go out of its way to drown hapless humans in the deepest part of the Ubangi-Shari.Like the other beasts discussed thus far, the morou-ngou is amphibious, capable of surviving out of water. But the lukwata of Lake Victoria is strictly aquatic. Indeed, the lukwata may best be described as a gigantic catfish, twelve to fifteen feet in length. With its wide, gaping mouth surrounded by twisting barbels, the lukwata would be a terrifying apparition to an unwary fisherman.The last water-beast to be described here does not live in any of Africa’s rivers or lakes. The silwane-manzi is a sea-dweller that sometimes leaves its three-toed prints along the beaches of Natal, South Africa. Zulus who have seen this creature say that it is larger than a crocodile, walks on its hind legs, is covered with scales, and has a head that resembles that of a turtle. Although the film was made years after the Zulus’ first descriptions of the silwane-manzi, the sea-beast bears an uncanny resemblance to the Creature from the Black Lagoon!Water is not the only habitat of unknown beasts in Africa. Remote forests, mountains, and savannas harbor creatures that have yet to appear on the Wild Kingdom TV program.Conventional zoological wisdom tells us that there are no bears in Africa. What, then, is the nandi, a marauder that has harassed East African shepherds for centuries? Lacking other terms of reference, Africans who have encountered the nandi say it looks like an overgrown hyena. But when photographs of bears are shown to these witnesses, they invariably change their minds. Indeed, one variant of the chemosit is the duba, whose name is Arabic for “bear.” Although it is a huge, fearsome creature, the nandi/duba appears to confine its depredations to domestic animals.The chemosit, also called the getiet, is an altogether different proposition. As mentioned earlier, there are two versions of the chemosit. The half-man, half-bird monster is more of a demon than a natural creature. The other version is a rapacious predator that seems part-hyena, part-ape and one hundred percent deadly. Entire villages have been known to have fled the fury of the chemosit, which has the unsavory habit of tearing off the tops of its victims’ skulls and dining on the exposed brains. In its own way, this second version of the chemosit may be even more demonic than the first.Related to the chemosit is the engargiya of Uganda. A large, shaggy, slope-backed creature, the engargiya has been identified by Huevelmans with the chalicothere, a prehistoric animal that had the anatomy of an herbivore combined with disproportionately large claws on its forefeet. Although the chalicothere became extinct during the Pleistocene era, Huevelmans speculates that a relict population may have survived in the East African bush.The njenge is an omnivorous animal about the size of a sheep. In pre-colonial days, njenges made nuisances of themselves by raiding farms and gardens. Although it is said to eat meat as well as vegetable food, there is no mention of the njenge being dangerous to humans. Its body is covered with hair like that of an English sheepdog.Great cats like the lion, leopard and cheetah are virtually symbolic of African wildlife. But there are two large feline species that are just as spectacular and dangerous as the cats trophy-hunters seek. One is the nunda, a feline larger than a lion and far more difficult to kill. In Swahili legend, the nunda has a thick tail, small ears, a bulky build, and a coat marked like that of a civet. It is interesting to note that paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey once excavated the fossil of a cat that seemed more tiger than lion. The nunda could represent a survival of this prehistoric species.The other unknown feline seems almost at the threshold of scientific recognition. Known locally as the marozi, the cat is about the size of a small lioness. Travelling in pairs, marozi are most frequently seen in the Aberdare Mountains of Kenya. Although the males do not boast the full mane of a lion, they do have a whiskery ruff like that of a lynx or bobcat. Also like a bobcat, the marozi’s hide is spotted. However, its tail is as long as a leopard’s. For a time, a pair of marozi-skins was on display in Nairobi.Thus we complete our survey of unknown beasts. The listing is by no means exhaustive. Like the okapi and the pygmy hippopotamus, some of the above creatures may one day be displayed in zoos. But … what zoo could contain a determined badigui or chemosit?Mythical BeingsWe are now ready to look at Africa’s supernatural entities. Their existence is rooted in the realm of folklore, myth – and, yes, superstition. Disassociated from physical reality, supernatural beings are nonetheless part of the spiritual reality of the cultures of which they are part. Although they are not by definition evil, these beings do tend to be associated with the conjurations of sorcerers and witches.Virtually all cultures have created supernatural beings. There seems to be a universal core of awe of the unknown that impels us to mold that awe into something with shape and substance. If the unknown can be visualized and named, it becomes easier to cope with.Based on their different origins, there is an important contrast between the behavior of natural and supernatural beings. With a few exceptions, the natural beings are not a direct menace to humans. Like other animals, they will leave you alone if you leave them alone. More often than not, however, the supernatural beings are dangerous to the people whose imaginations create them.It is almost a cultural universal that people who share their environment with large predators will develop a tradition of were-beasts, or humans who can turn themselves into animals. Africans are no exception to this rule.The most common kind of African were-beast is the irimu, or were-leopard. Irimu can also be lions, depending on the locale of the myth-makers. Like the European werewolf, the irimu assumes beast-form when the moon is full. But its bite does not infect its victims with a similar curse. The condition is induced by the spells of unscrupulous sorcerers, though sometimes the sorcerers are unable to control their creations. The irimu are not to be confused with the Leopard Men of West Africa, who disguise themselves as leopards for ritualistic purposes.There are also were-loins and were-hyenas, known respectively as chiwanda and makishi. These beings differ from the irimu in that they are beasts that can become human, while the irimu is a human that can become a beast. Entire cycles of folklore in Central and Southern Africa revolve around the theme of the “Demon Bridegroom.” In these stories, a makishi or chiwanda will come in human form to a village and seduce the local beauty who haughtily rejects all other suitors. The demon marries the maiden – then, on the wedding night, the demon reverts to its natural form, with predictably terrifying results.The vampire is another supernatural entity that appears in cultures all over the world. The Central European version of this blood-drinking monster is the most prevalent – hello, Count Dracula. But there are other cultural variations on the vampire theme.At least two types of vampire have been reported in Africa. One is the tyerkow, which haunted the Sahelian city of Timbuktu. The tyerkow was a normal human being by day, but at night is would shed its skin. By that process, it became a vampire with most of the attributes of the European variety. In its skinless state, the tyerkow drank the blood of sleeping citizens of Timbuktu. To destroy a tyerkow, one must hide its skin so that it has no safe haven to return to by daylight. Of course, the vampire is very careful about saving its own skin …The other type of African vampire is the mwanga. The best description of a mwanga would be “a person who turns into a beast that lives on blood.” In some ways, the mwanga is a combination of vampire and were-beast, with the mindless ferocity of the latter linked to the blood-drinking habits of the former. Unlike the tyerkow, the mwanga is vulnerable to ordinary weapons, though it takes a lot of killing to dispatch one.“Little people” are yet another worldwide folkloric phenomenon. Gnomes and leprechauns have African counterparts, such as utechekulu and the kitunusi, among others. The above-named dwarves tend to be dangerous, and are better left alone. The utechekulu are about three feet high, have ebony skin and tangled hair, and possess a long, sharp blood-red tooth that they use to kill their victims. Their favorite prey? People.The kitunusi, on the other hand, is somewhat ambivalent. Even its status as a dwarf is not clear, as some stories say the kitunusi is of normal size, but hitches itself about in a sitting position. Whatever its stature, the kitunusi wears a magic cloth called the kaniki. If a traveller is bold enough to tear away a piece of the kaniki, great riches will be his. But failure to face down this gnome results in illness, paralysis and eventual slow death.Where there are little people, there are also giants. All over the world, legends persist of races of giants that preceded humans on Earth. One African variation on this theme is the story of the Rom, who once inhabited northern Ethiopia. They were so large that the cattle they herded were as goats are to normal humans. Their water-vessels were made from the entire hides of bulls, and for firewood, they ripped up entire groves of trees. For a time, the Rom coexisted peacefully with humans. They ultimately died out through a combination of infertility and competition with the smaller – but brighter – ancestors of the Ethiopians. Even today, lost cattle are sometimes thought to have been stolen by the vengeful ghosts of the Rom.Another race of giants is the Sao, who settled in the region of Lake Chad. They are described as having bright, sun-like eyes and prodigious size and strength. Indeed, accounts of the prowess of the Sao bring to mind tales of Paul Bunyan and Finn MacCool. Their bows were the trunks of palm trees, and their stature was such that they could carry an elephant on their shoulders. Unlike the Rom, the Sao were highly cultured, and were willing to pass their knowledge on to the “little people” they encountered. Also unlike the Rom, they did not die out in competition with normal-sized humans. One day, the Sao simply moved on, and were never seen again.Elves are yet another worldwide mystical phenomenon. Sometimes elves are confused with dwarves and gnomes. But strictly speaking, an elf is a being that operates on a higher spiritual plane than do humans. The sidhe of Ireland are one European example of this perception of elves. For the Bantu-speaking people of Congo and other Central African countries, the equivalent of the sidhe is a race called the wakyambi, or Heaven People.The “heaven” concept is not to be confused with the Christian paradise. The name was translated as such because the Congolese said the wakyambi live “in the clouds,” or “beyond the sun.” They have been known to conjure “heaven-cattle” for people upon whom they looked kindly. On the other hand, the wakyambi are also known to be harbingers of disaster. In appearance, these elfin beings are very much like other Africans – the primary difference being that the wakyambi have tails. Contrary to some expectations, the tail of the wakyambi is not considered a sign of evolutionary degeneracy.Thus far, we have looked at creatures that are part of a universal series of mythic archetypes. Vampires, werewolves, dwarves and elves are represented in folklore from all corners of the world. There are, however, mythic beings in Africa that have few – if any – counterparts in other continents’ cultures.For example, there’s the ngojama, a demon that haunts the forests of the Tana country. The ngojama in manlike in appearance and has human intelligence. But it also possesses long, iron-hard claws that grow from the palms of its hands. The ngojama lies in wait for unwary hunters, who quickly discover that they have suddenly become prey.The Zulu speak of two man-like races that may be found in their hill country. One is the unthlatu, or serpent-people. An unthlatu is human in form, but is covered with smooth, slippery scales like those of a python. Unthlatu tend not to interfere in human affairs, but when they do, one can never predict whether their interventions result in good or ill. In one instance, an unthlatu saved the life of a Zulu maiden who was abducted by a river-demon. On the other hand, the serpent-people are not above the stealing of cattle from time to time – a cardinal sin in Zulu protocol.Less benign than the unthlatu are the ingogo, which are a cross between human and baboon. The Zulu believe the ingogo to be the degenerate descendants of an exiled clan. The ingogo walk on all fours and have tails, although their faces are still human enough. Although the ingogo have retained the ability to speak, their dietary habits have declined considerably, as their favorite meal is Zulu flesh.The mangabangabana has an impressively long name – but it is, in fact, only half a man, with one arm, one leg and one eye. Despite their truncated form, the mangabangabana is more dangerous than the ingogo. Not only is this grotesque half-thing a man-eater; it also possesses the power of flight. From its remote forest haunts, the mangabangabana swoops down on women and children, and caries them off to a horrible fate.Great Zimbabwe, now a collection of stone ruins in the country that bears the same name, had its share of supernatural inhabitants. One was the mhondoro – the spirit of a semi-divine ancestor that has the power to possess a descendant and infuse him or her with all the attributes that led to that ancestor’s renown. The possession is only temporary, and when it is over, the medium is left considerably depleted, if not dead. Mhondoro are thus summoned only in dire circumstances.The zombie, or reanimated corpse, is perhaps the best-known of all African supernatural beings, having made its way across the Atlantic to Haiti and other parts of the New World. Less well-known is the fact that there are other types of walking dead in Africa.The tuyewera – a specialty of the Kaonde people of Zambia – is a Frankensteinian combination of an exhumed corpse and an enslaved soul. To create a tuyewera Kaonde sorcerers first procure the body of a person who has been slain by witchcraft. The legs of the corpse are then severed at the knees, and its tongue is cut out. Then the sorcerer animates the tuyewera with the soul of an ancestor who was known to have practiced witchcraft.The result of this procedure is an unkillable fiend that can steal, cause illness, and kill at the sorcerer’s command. At night, the tuyewera is invisible. It moves by hitching itself on its hands and the stumps of its legs. It kills by sucking the breath out of its sleeping victims. The only way to stop a tuyewera is to invoke an incantation that will induce the spirit of the witch-ancestor to leave the revived corpse. At that point, the maker of the tuyewera loses control over his creation, and the corpse quickly decomposes. Kaonde sorcerers used to sell tuyewera to people who sought the services of a quiet assassin.We will close our supernatural safari with a look at Isikukumadevu, a Zulu variation of the “swallowing-monster” theme. Isikukumadevu is a huge, bloated, mossy creature that once lived in a river that no longer exists. As the proper form of address for Isikukumadevu is “Madame Monster,” it is safe to assume that the entity is female. Politeness is, indeed, a virtue when dealing with a creature that once swallowed an entire village because one of its inhabitants offended her!Thus ends our sampling of the unknown beasts and mythic beings of Africa. As mentioned before, we have only scratched the surface of a vast array of entities. In some cases there are several variations on a theme, such as reptilian water-beasts and shape-changing were-creatures, as well as other types of resuscitated corpses. Brief as this survey may be, it may still provide an inkling of the depth and fertility of the African imagination.SourcesA Treasury of African Folklore. Harold Courlander, New York: Crown 1975.African Folktales and Sculpture. Paul Radin, editor, Kingsport: Kingsport Press, 1966.More “Things”. Ivan T. Sanderson, New York: Pyramid 1969.Myths and Legends of Africa. Margaret Carey, London: Hamelyn 1970.Myths and Legends of the Bantu. Alice Werner, London: Cass 1968.On the Track of Unknown Animals. Bernard Huevelmans, London: Granada 1972.End NoteLooking back, I can’t believe I omitted the mokele-mbembe – the famous “African dinosaur” – from this compilation! Looks like I’m going to have to do an updated, expanded version someday.
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