Library of Cryptozoology

The Zande tell of a river-monster called the Ndutu which is bigger than a house and has grass growing on its skin. It is so big that it will sometimes stop up streams. They also have a water-leopard and a vampire-fish which has tentacles and a trunk like an elephant with which it sucks the blood of its victims.

The mission site on the Uze river was said to be haunted by the mythical Ndutu and Mama Ime, beasts with long tentacles which could draw the unsuspecting Zande into the river, never to be seen again!

"But Wyndham should hear the old Zande describing the local fauna [says a Sanderson]. Among other freaks there's the Wanga–a lizard found in the Congo and Nile–that has breasts like a woman. There's another chap which only lives in the river Were [Uere]–a sort of octopus, with an elephant's trunk, that sucks people's blood. And when you cross the river Sue to-morrow you'd better look out for the Ndutu: he has grass and water-weeds growing on his back, and is so large that he can stop the flow of the river." "And the Ngambue," added Mrs. Frobisher. "They found a Ngambue in the well near your rest-house." "Ngambue?" I asked. "A very large poisonous snake with a long beard: its body is covered in flour."

The existence of various monsters, which may reservedly be called mythical, is believed in. It is noticeable that they are all said to live in rivers, and none on dry land. The ndutu is bigger than a house. Its skin is covered with a growth of grass and water weeds. Nobody of the present day has ever seen one. They live in some of the smaller streams, but mostly in the big rivers like the Sue. They are so huge that they have stopped the course of that river ere now. Moma ime , or the water leopard, are said to live in deep pools of large rivers, and big fissures in the banks have often been pointed out as being their homes. Wanga , a kind of lizard with a smooth skin like a fish, inhabits only the Congo or the Nile. It has breasts. Ngambue , a big snake, its skin covered with a substance like flour, and possessing a beard, may live in all waters. The well in Yambio was thought to harbour one. Its bite is poisonous. There is also a beast, of unknown name, with a prehensile limb like an ...