Mokele-Mbembe – The Last Surviving Dinosaur

In the deepest parts of the Congo lives a creature. A large reptilian the size of an elephant with a long neck and tail. Living in the rivers and lakes it dines exclusively on plants. Only attacking people because of its territorial nature. A description that sounds suspiciously like a sauropod. The area it lives in is so remote, it hasn’t even been mapped properly. Inhabited by tribes of Pygmy’s, the modern worlds tendrils touch it, but are not yet fully intertwined with it. It really is one of the last untouched area’s of the planet. Being here feels like rewinding time to a different epoch. One where tribes of hunter gatherers works in tandem with nature and the natural order does not place humans at the top of the food chain.

The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman. All achieved world renown. Everyone is aware of them. But not so with Mokele-Mbembe. This legendary creature could literally be the last surviving herd of dinosaur. Or a close relation. Or, more likely, just a legend.

Mokele Mbembe – Stories from the past

Likoulala is an area of Northern Congo first inhabited by the Pygmy tribe. Still inhabited by the Pygmy tribe. Hunter gatherers who live off the land. There is only one main road in the whole of this vast area of land totalling over 25,000 square miles (66,000 km squared). That’s an area equivalent to the size of Ireland (or slightly larger than West Virginia, for those on the other side of the ocean).

A huge area to get lost in. Or to hide in, if you’re part of a herd of sauropods.

The tribes in this area have passed down stories about the Mokele-Mbebe for generations. Any suggestion made to them that this is not a real creature is met with indignant disbelief. To them, the creature is a surety. As real as a hippo, elephant or any other animal.

Expeditions

The Western world has been making expeditions to this part of Africa for hundreds of years. A French Missionary, Abbe Boneventure made the first recorded sighting of Mokele-Mbebe in 1776. Sighting is not quite the correct word though. Abbe reportedly found its tracks. Which he said measured a circumference of 3 feet for each of its feet.

Since then, dozens of sightings from Westerners have been recorded. I’ll give a few examples here or you’d prefer, you can read the full pdf on the topic here.

1932: Ivan T. Sanderson and Gerald Russell are just north of Likouala in Cameroon at Mamfe Pool when they hear a large roar. Looking up they see a huge animal swim out from a submerged cave.

1956: A Belgian pilot flying over the Congo with his telegraphist reports seeing a herd of three colossal monsters.

1960: Lake Tele, Congo. Pastor Eugene Thomas, a missionary, relays a story told to him by the Bangombe tribe. Two Mokele-Mbebe are terrorising their fishing activities in the Lake. The tribesmen build a barrier to ward off the creatures, but the barrier is quickly broken by the territorial monsters. Eventually they manage to kill one and the other leaves the area.

Unfortunately, when it comes to photographic evidence, it’s fuzzy. Literally.

The above is one of the best images we have. It’s not great. We have numerous books about the subject, such as Carl Hagenbeck’s 1909 Beasts and Men and Roy Mackal’s 1987 A Living Dinosaur? In Search of Mokele-Mbebe, not to mention plenty of eye witness stories. Just none of that pesky photographic evidence. Seems to always be the way, doesn’t it?

Is Mokele-Mbebe therefor just another myth. A legend that might have some basis in truth but nothing else? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Mokele-Mbebe: Truth or Fiction?

It would be easy at this point to give up all hope. File it next to that other famous sauropod, the Loch Ness Monster. Incidentally, I’ve sailed and slept on Loch Ness, it’s beautiful and vast, but empty, I’d have to conclude.

When talking about Mokele-Mbebe though, there is more to consider. Loch Ness is next door to the thriving, bustling city of Inverness. Around 60 odd thousand people live around here. To get there is trivial. In the summer the area is inundated with tourists.

This is not the same as being in the heart of Africa. To get to the areas where Mokele-Mbebe lives takes days long plane rides, followed by days long car journeys which themselves are followed by days or even weeks long treks through extremely rough terrain. After my trips down Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal, I got back in my car and went to the cinema or a restaurant.

So even if you could make it to the areas where these creatures are supposed to roam, your gear would be minimal. Carrying camera’s and the assorted stuff you need to hunt for these dinosaurs is not a easy matter. Even David Attenborough and his crew would find it hard going.

Next we have to think about how few of these animals could exist and the area they cover. Not just the Congo but sightings have been made in neighbouring Cameroon and even in Zimbabwe, thousands of miles away.

This is a vast wilderness. You could fit The United States, China, India and Europe into the area covering Africa, and still have space left. Literally like finding a needle in a haystack.

The White Rhino, the second largest animal after the elephant, was long thought to be extinct until an expedition in 1895 found a 100 of them in South Africa.

Similar thing with the Okapi (Zebra Giraffe). This strange creature was depicted in tribal cultures since the 5th century BCE. The Europeans had no idea of its existence until 1901 when Sir Harry Johnston brought back parts of its striped skin and a skull. Before this it had been speculated about when Henry Morton Stanley had mentioned a “kind of donkey” in press reports from 1887.

Or how about the mountain gorilla? This subspecies of gorilla is the largest in the world. And utterly unknown about until 1902.

I could go on but you get the idea.

Let’s face it. In our ever connected world, the likely-hood of a surviving species of sauropod we don’t know about is tiny, but tiny is still a chance. I’ll leave you with the words of William F. Laurance, Professor at James Cook University in Australia, speaking to the BBC about Mokele-Mbebe:

My gut sense is that the likelihood of the creature actually existing today is small. However, one thing you learn early on in science is never say never. We are still discovering new species all the time.