Mokele-mbembe — a surviving dinosaur in the Congo

[Bill Ryan]

Though inspired by the Has anyone actually seen a Thunderbird? (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?108578-Has-anyone-actually-seen-a-Thunderbird/page2) thread, I thought it more unlikely that any members had actually seen THIS thing. :)

http://vividvisuals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Mokele-Mbembe-04-flat-01-dream-filter-539x374.jpg

But there's a lot of evidence that this is real: a creature called Mokele-mbembe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokele-mbembe) by villagers living near Lake Tele, which is in the vast and near-inaccessible Likouala swamp in the Congo.

There's lots about it in the internet, including some fascinating and credible reports going back more than 100 years. There's even a short video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCMQbxNG_xk

That video is blocked in some countries. If it's unavailable for you, here it is in the Avalon Library.


http://avalonlibrary.net/Mokele-mbembe_92_footage.mp4 (2 Mb)

Here's an interesting screenshot:

http://projectavalon.net/Mokele-mbembe_screenshot.jpg

I have to say, it's not hard to imagine that anything could be living in there. (Note to intelligent skeptics: this isn't an elephant. I've spent a lot of time in Africa, and elephants don't swim like that. Click here (http://arkive.org/asian-elephant/elephas-maximus/video-in06b.html) for a wonderful short video of Indian elephants swimming in the sea... note that they don't hold their trunks out of the water.)

Here's a National Geographic documentary video, shown on the History Channel. (Note that it's actually just 45 mins long, and then loops to repeat. The creature doesn't look like the video cover image, either!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb5ZedRRjCI
Finally, an interesting 1982 expedition report in the CalTech library. The team had 5 sightings over 32 days, and estimated that the animal, which had a long neck, was 36 feet long. Don't miss the question-and-answer section at the back.*

* One delightful exchange:

Q: Did you try to bring the boat near the animal?
A: No. Would you? I wouldn't recommend it.
:)

https://authors.library.caltech.edu/25708/1/MALN_64.pdf

https://authors.library.caltech.edu/25708/1/MALN_64.pdf

[Craig]

I guess to truly discover if it is in there would be to discover a vast oil reserve in there and let 'business' clear the area.....

[Strat]

The Congo is very fascinating. No telling what's roaming around there.

What's the large ape species I'm thinking of that's rumored to live there? Escapes me at the moment. I remember seeing pics of it.

EDIT: Found it: https://anthropology.net/2007/07/17/bili-apes-the-giant-lion-eating-chimps-of-the-magic-forest/

Bili Apes

[Bill Ryan]

What's the large ape species I'm thinking of that's rumored to live there? Escapes me at the moment. I remember seeing pics of it.

EDIT: Found it: https://anthropology.net/2007/07/17/bili-apes-the-giant-lion-eating-chimps-of-the-magic-forest/

Bili Apes

Thanks, fascinating! I'd never heard of that. :thumbsup:

[Bill Ryan]

What's the large ape species I'm thinking of that's rumored to live there? Escapes me at the moment. I remember seeing pics of it.

EDIT: Found it: https://anthropology.net/2007/07/17/bili-apes-the-giant-lion-eating-chimps-of-the-magic-forest/

Bili Apes

Thanks, fascinating! I'd never heard of that. :thumbsup:

This might need a thread of its own. I think (but cannot yet verify) that this may be one of them. (Jeez!! :) )

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FYXcqNjMUzU/Tazq1GoNlbI/AAAAAAAABXM/Yi9nu_IZexY/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Bipedal+chimp.jpg

[Abondance]

For the French-speaking readers and cryptozoology lovers, I would like to present the latest work of my friend Michel Ballot, who has just released the biography of his mentor Bernard Heuvelmans, true pioneer of cryptozoology.


I had the pleasure of meeting Michel during remote viewing experience that I made for him for months on the Mokélé M'Bembé, the famous dragon of Africa, that he continues to seek tirelessly.

BERNARD HEUVELMANS, sur la piste de la zoologie oubliée

https://www.fnac.com/Bernard-Heuvelmans/a20742207/avis?SortCriterion=num_positive_feedback

OC2mT03D-n4

[Bill Ryan]

Many many thanks — I'm a huge fan of Bernard Heuvelmans, and read his classic and very wonderful book On the Track of Unknown Animals from cover to cover several times. Here it is in the Avalon Library: :thumbsup:

https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Bernard%20Heuvelmans%20-%20On%20the%20Track%20of%20Unknown%20Animals%20(1970).pdf

(https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Bernard%20Heuvelmans%20-%20On%20the%20Track%20of%20Unknown%20Animals%20(1970).pdf)https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Bernard%20Heuvelmans%20-%20On%20the%20Track%20of%20Unknown%20Animals%20(1970).pdf

Regarding Mokele-mbembe, I've become convinced that it exists and I'm always eager to learn anything new about it that may have emerged in recent years. The problem, of course, is that it lives in a vast swampy area of the Congo Basin which is hard to access and explore, and not many well-equipped expeditions have been there.


I had the pleasure of meeting Michel during remote viewing experience that I made for him for months on the Mokélé M'Bembé, the famous dragon of Africa, that he continues to seek tirelessly.What did the remote viewing sessions reveal?

I'd absolutely love to see the new film The Explorer, and will definitely do my best to find it! :sun:

[Abondance]

Dear Bill, it’s a long story...

First of all, I must say that before entering this adventure, I knew nothing about the Mokélé, nor did I know Michel, nor was I particularly interested in cryptozoology. The guy I was doing remote viewing experiments with once asked me if I wanted to participate in an experiment.

He knew someone who was going to organize an expedition to look for something, somewhere. And my job would be to get as much information as possible through RV.

I obviously agreed immediately, it was finally an opportunity to test my practice in very exciting conditions!

The explorer in question, I must also point out, did not know anything about remote viewing and just accepted the experience too. He didn’t have much to lose anyway if it didn’t work.

And in fact, there were potentially 3 things to look for including 1 more specific but I did not know more and I was just given a numerical target corresponding to an area.

I described the environment quite well and I remember that after a strange dream, I said to my friend: I’m almost sure it’s in Africa! As what, I sometimes manage to locate the targets lol...

In fact the first session allowing me to detect something particular, concerned a subject that I could not identify. It was something sharp, hard, and natural, but it was neither vegetal nor mineral.
At the 2nd session, while looking at this intriguing detail, I let my body "play mime" to give me details ( it’s a particularity that I developed in RV)and my hands came up against my mouth and went down as if they were pulling my canines down.
And I thought: wow, those are very long teeth!

A saber-toothed tiger? oh come on, the good joke...

I dug into the subject of this animal’s habitat and habits, and when I got the feedback, well, this explorer seemed impressed. Even though I still didn’t know what it was.
Later, with the feedback, I realized that I had targeted one of the three potential cryptids in the region, namely the water tiger, which is perhaps even more stealthy and less visible than the Mokele and... particularly dangerous and nocturnal.

The natives have already found for example a dead hippopotamus with very deep lacerations that apparently do not correspond to any weapon.

I then targeted the 2nd cryptide and I realize that I still do not know the name. It is a small animal that has rather a very special mystical aura in these peoples, and its cry is associated with death.

And then I finally targeted the mokele.
For me, this animal exists absolutely.
I gave characteristics that were validated by Michel and others who would ask to be able to study it closely. For example, I felt that he had no teeth and that he sucked his food rather ( this is not a carnivore ). He lives a lot in the water especially because he fears the dry season, I felt his skin burning him in the sun, and it turns out he was most often seen at dawn or dusk. I keep some others details for me and Michel, because if they are true and one day demonstrable, it will be very interesting for us.

Michel and his team found traces during a previous expedition (I don’t know what year), on a sandbank.

He has detailed all his research in two books: "In search of the Mokélé-Mbembé" and "Nki the ultimate frontier".

He makes at least 2 expeditions a year in this really inaccessible area and having been able to follow live one of them, I assure you that it is not a pleasure and that we risk his life, Both because of natural hazards and poachers who are particularly violent. You only travel there with armed government guards, guides who know the place and pygmy ceremonies that give the blessing of the elders!

Going back to the VR sessions, I tried to define, mainly by kinesthesis and with precise maps of the region, And I tried to track the day-to-day movement of a particular animal.
The good news is that one of the probable sectors was known and named by the pygmies "Attention!" (Beware !). That is to say a dangerous area where we can potentially make an encounter...

I targeted also some confluences of the river that seemed interesting to Michel and to go there to put cameras traps.
But in the field, it is often inaccessible or flooded. Drones are useless because the vegetation cover is too dense.
Some of the last cameras had been taken away or destroyed when he wanted to take them back to the next expedition. All this is very expensive...


Michel is still hanging on, and continues his quest, while taking care of local associations that try to preserve also the elephant of forest, in danger of disappearing, and support clinics.

I really wish him to be able one day to meet the one we have nicknamed among us: Mocky.


u8qTcCSCaEk

[Bill Ryan]

Dear Bill, it’s a long story...

Dear Abondance! That is so, so fascinating. Thank you! :heart:

[Agape]

This bird, the Shoebill Stork from Africa is also completely fascinating. It grows over 5 ft tall in adult age and can capture snakes and small crocodiles.

It would be lots of fun to have one for companion 🦩


-p2RyFnudDw

Filmed in remaining wetlands of Uganda.

Birds are said to be evolutionary offspring of giant reptiles who once inhabited this planet.

[Le Chat]

Thanks, Bill, for adding that wonderful book to the Avalon Library :bowing:

[Abondance]

Dear Bill, it’s a long story...

Dear Abondance! That is so, so fascinating. Thank you! :heart:

With pleasure...

Here a video of the footprints discovery :

9c0VCPwBV5c

[Ewan]

Many many thanks — I'm a huge fan of Bernard Heuvelmans, and read his classic and very wonderful book On the Track of Unknown Animals from cover to cover several times. Here it is in the Avalon Library: :thumbsup:

https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Bernard%20Heuvelmans%20-%20On%20the%20Track%20of%20Unknown%20Animals%20(1970).pdf (https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Bernard%20Heuvelmans%20-%20On%20the%20Track%20of%20Unknown%20Animals%20(1970).pdf)



Regarding Mokele-mbembe, I've become convinced that it exists and I'm always eager to learn anything new about it that may have emerged in recent years. The problem, of course, is that it lives in a vast swampy area of the Congo Basin which is hard to access and explore, and not many well-equipped expeditions have been there.



Just read this today, difficult to put down. Excellent.



an account told to the Brazilian writer Paulo Saldanha Sobrino, by a half-caste called Inocencio, who in 1930 went on an expedition up the Uatuma towards the sources of the Urubu.

When their boat came to an impassable waterfall they cut across the jungle to reach the Urubu watershed. After two days Inocencio became separated from the rest of his party. He shouted and fired his gun, but there was no reply except the chatter of monkeys and squawks of angry birds. So he began to walk almost blindly, feeling he must do something in such a critical situation, until night fell, when he climbed into a large tree and settled himself in a fork between the branches. As it grew dark the night was filled with jungle noises, and Inocencio rested happily enough until suddenly there was a cry which at first he thought was a man calling, but he realized at once that no one would look for him in the middle of the night. Then he heard the cry nearer at hand and more clearly. It was a wild and dismal sound. Inocencio, very frightened, settled himself more firmly into the tree and loaded his gun. Then the cry rang out a third time and now that it was so close it sounded horrible, deafening and inhuman.

Some forty yards away was a small clearing where a samaumeira had fallen and its branches had brought down other smaller trees. This was where the last cry had come from. Immediately afterward there was a loud noise of footsteps, as if a large animal was coming toward me at top speed. When it reached the fallen tree it gave a grunt and stopped.. . . Finally a silhouette the size of a man of middle height appeared in the clearing.

The night was clear. There was no moon, but the starry sky gave a pale light which somehow' filtered through the tangled vegetation. In this half-light Inocencio saw a thickset black figure ‘ which stood upright like a man’ . It remained where it stood, looking perhaps suspiciously at the place where I was. Then it roared again as before. I could wait no longer and fired without even troubling to take proper aim. There was a savage roar and then a noise of crashing bushes. I was alarmed to see the animal rush growling toward me and I fired a second bullet.

The terrifying creature was hit and gave an incredibly swift leap and hid near the old samaumeira. From behind this barricade it gave threatening growls so fiercely that the tree to which I was clinging seemed to shake. I had previously been on jaguar hunts and taken an active part in them, and I know how savage this cat is when it is run down and at bay. But the roars of the animal that attacked me that night were more terrible and deafening than a jaguar’s. I loaded my gun again and fearing another attack, fired in the direction of the roaring. The black shape roared again more loudly, but retreated and disappeared into the depths of the forest. From time to time I could still hear its growl of pain until at last it ceased.

Dawn was just breaking. Not until the sun was well up did Inocencio dare to come down from his perch. In the clearing he found blood, broken boughs of bushes, and smashed shrubs. Everywhere there was a sour penetrating smell. Naturally he did not dare to follow the trail of blood for fear of meeting a creature which would be even more dangerous now that it was wounded. Taking a bearing on the sun he at last reached a stream and rejoined his companions, who fired shots so that he should know where they were.