Most people have read or heard of Roy Mackal's book on the hunt for Mokele-Mbembe, the so-called living dinosaur in the Congo, or seen articles about Bill Gibbons and John Kirk's expeditions.But there have been others who have ventured alone to the area to seek out Lac(lake) Tele and look for the creature. Rory Nugent went in 1986 (book Drums Along the Congo 1993 ed. Houghton Mufflin Co) and Redmond O'Hanlon ( book Congo Journey 1996 Penguin books).
Rory Nugent's book is the more upbeat of the two as O'Hanlon's has a more negative view of the indigenous people of the area.
Both are amusing in parts, especially about meetings with witch doctors.
Nugent took a photo of something but as you will see from the text he was unable to get close enough
to investigate.
He ends his journey to Lac Tele by asking this: (p.379)"So Doubla". I asked softly" Why did Marcellin swear he saw the dinosaur?" "Don't you know?" said Doubla, giving me his first real smile. "It's to bring idiots like you here. And make a lot of money"
So is it just a con? The races of the Congo refer to Mokele-Mbembe as the spirit of the forest and say it takes several forms. Some indigenous people, when questioned, point to pictures of a Rhinoceros as the dinosaur and it is claimed that it is a race memory from when the jungle was once plains and the rhino roamed there. More than one investigator has pointed out that the lake is quite shallow and it would have to be a small dinosaur to hide there. The water levels may rise in the rainy season, of course. It is said that if there is any place that a dinosaur could still exist it would be in the Congo jungles but the jungles weren't always there and it would have been grassland plains thousands of years ago. There are still patches of this in the jungle: clearings where the animals gather (See the Channel 4 programme Congo, which is still sometimes transmitted) so sadly it seems there may not be a living dinosaur unless it is some sort of evolved creature from the era of the dinosaurs. It would be unlikely to look like something from Jurassic Park, though; probably much smaller and a changed appearance in order to adapt to the changing world around it.
If you want my honest opinion, the object in the second photograph of scan one looks like the head of a big catfish and near the water are two rounded pectoral fins. That is if you care to make anything out of such a blurry and disfocused image (Which could represent a log as much as anything else) Perhaps it is Heuvelmans' version of the Lau?
ReplyDeleteTo me, the second pic looks less like a catfish and more like a crudely painted topless blonde, (a mermaid, perhaps?), in the process of submerging!
ReplyDeleteI mean, that's one hell of a pair of 'rounded pectoral fins'!
Maybe it was intended as a new phase in the supposed tourist suckering gambit.
FYI - the title of O'Hanlon's book (at least the copy I have) is "No Mercy"
ReplyDeleteIn the penguin series the title is Congo Journey. I lent my copy of no mercy to someone and it never returned so the penguin edition is a replacement.Check your facts before you post please.
ReplyDelete