Although it often seems that the British Isles have a monopoly on the carnivorous WATER-HORSEphenomenon, residents of South Africa's rustic Mount Ayliff region can also lay claim to the very own aquatic-equine.

Said to inhabit the Mzintlava River (also known as the Umzimhlava River) the animal has been described by eyewitnesses as being an astounding 70-feet in length - including the tail, with four, short legs, a crocodilian torso, a long serpentine neck and a horse-like head. Witnesses have also claimed that this animal has two, gleaming, green eyes, which - according to native legend - possess the power to mesmerize anyone unfortunate enough to make eye contact with the beast.

Thought by many area natives to be the physical manifestation of the notorious predator known in Xhosa tribal mythology as the Mamlambo (more commonly referred to as the African Brain-Sucker), legends of this horrifying creature date back centuries. The Xhosa claim that any warrior brave enough - or foolish enough for that matter - to go toe to toe with one of these monstrous beasts and survive, would be the recipient of a tremendous amount of wealth, not to mention their fair share of prestige.

Like its vicious European cousins (the EACH-USIAGE and the DOBHAR-CHU) the Mamlambo is notorious for dragging its victims into its watery domain, where it proceeds to drown them. Once its prey has perished the Mamlambo reportedly cracks open the skull of its quarry and proceeds to siphon the brains and, ultimately, all of blood from the corpse, hence its graphic nickname. Unlike these other cryptids, however, the activities of the Mamlambo have been closely tracked by public officials in the area.

In fact, on April 29, 1997, the Reuter wire service reported that at an Eastern Cape legislative meeting held in Bisho, South Africa, the agriculture minister, one Ezra Sigwela, told an astonished governing body that a "half-fish, half-horse monster" had devoured at least seven
victims in his region of Mzintlava River, located in the northern area of the former Transkei black homeland. Sigwela pledged that he would solicit the help of the national agriculture ministry, in the hopes that they would organize a mission of armed nature conservation officers in order to hunt and kill the beast.

Kokstad freelance journalist, Andile Nomabhunga, also claims that he has received numerous reports regarding the creature. According to Nomabhunga, nine people had been killed since January of 1997. The most recent victim at the time being a young schoolgirl, who had been buried only a month before.

The family of this young girl were not the only ones mourning in the rural, backwater villages of South Africa, the tragedy seemed to run even deeper as 6 year-old, Mthokozisi Sigcobeka, tearfully recounted his father's fatal encounter with this mystery monster, concluding with the fateful vow that when he got older he would get a gun and kill the animal himself.

As in most cases of cryptozoological encounters, the local police state that the monster's purported victims were actually only drowning casualties, resulting from the swelling of the Mzintlava River during the heavy rains of the Lesotho wet season. Captain G. Mzuko of the
Mount Ayliff Police, a firm skeptic regarding Mamlambo accounts, credited crabs for the disfiguring injuries discovered on most victims corpses:

"I have seen some of the bodies of the so-called monster's victims. They had all been in the water for some time and, as is often the case, river crabs had eaten away the soft parts of the faces and throats. In one case, the crabs were still clinging to the body when it was brought in. As far as we are concerned, there were cases of drowning, plain and simple."

Despite police's dismissal of native accounts, the villagers who reside near the ominous river claim that they are not merely superstitious tribesmen, who are grasping at legends to explain away natural occurrences, but educated people who are being terrorized by this savage predator.

Although some physical attributes of this creature vaguely resemble those of fellow Dark Continent native the MOKELE-MBEMBE, its crocodilian body, equine shaped head and carnivorous disposition have led many researchers to surmise that the Mamlambo maybe the South African equivalent of the Congolese MAHAMBA.

The most recent sighting of what was described as a "giant reptile" was reported near Lubaleko, a village resting on the Mzintlava River in the vicinity of Mount Ayliff, which is located about 110 miles southeast of the coastal metropolis of Durban.

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The mamlambo is a carnivorous cryptid from the Mzintlava River near Mount Ayliff that claimed up to 9 human victims in 1997 alone.

The grisly feeding habits of the mamlambo have earned it a certain amount of fear and hatred amongst the people of Mount Ayliff, and there have been several campaigns to eradicate the creatures. They are always solitary, dragging animals into the water and drowning them before eating their facial tissues and sucking out their blood and brain. One mamlambo took up residence beneath a bridge over the Mzintlava River and killed at least 7, possibly 9 people in this way. According to the regional mythology, mamlambos can be tamed and used as attack animals by those who are skilled enough to capture them.

In the tribal mythology of South Africa's Xhosa people, the mamlambo is a giant river snake which brings good fortune to he who owns it, and is used by witch doctors to get revenge on their enemies. The tribal stories describe mamlambo as a big snake with a large bulky head, while modern sightings describe it as being "half horse and half fish", having the head and neck of a horse and the body of a fish, with four short stumpy legs. They are said to be able to come out of the water, using that ability to capture prey that isn't close to the water's edge.

There are two major theories as to what this creature could be. The first is that it is an elasmosaur-like animal, the supporting evidence being it's long neck, it's aquatic habitat, and the fact that it is described as a "big snake" in the tribal lore. The second theory is that mamlambo is some kind of very primitive archaeocete, occupying a place in cetacean evolution before the legs turned into flippers and the neck disappeared, but after the typical cetacean tail had evolved -- which would explain the horse-like head, the short legs and the "fish-like" body.

Recent Articles on the Mamlambo - the Brain Sucker
The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa

April 30, 1997

Nature conservation called to hunt East Cape 'monster'

Bisho - Transkei villagers' complaint about a monster that is said to suck the blood and brains from its human victims was discussed in the Eastern Cape legislature yesterday.

Agriculture and Land Affairs MEC Ezra Sigwela raised the issue for the attention of the house, saying the "half-fish, half-horse monster" was believed to have killed at least seven people trying to cross the Mzintlava River near Mount Ayliff.

Fearful villagers told Sigwela about the monster after his Freedom Day address and demanded that something be done about the beast. The MEC said he believed the story because he had been told of the monster by a prominent community leader.

Kokstad freelance journalist Andile Nomabhunga said he had received numerous reports about the monster. He said he knew of nine people who had been killed since January. The latest victim was a schoolgirl who was buried last month, he said.

Sigwela promised to ask the national agriculture ministry to send nature conservation officers to hunt the creature. - Sapa.



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S.Africans fear half-fish, half-horse monster

BISHO, South Africa, April 29 (Reuter) - South African villagers in a remote rural backwater live in fear of a man-eating river monster said to have both fish- and horse-like features, and to have claimed several victims.

Ezra Sigwela, agriculture minister in the Eastern Cape region, told an astonished legislature on Tuesday the monster had gobbled up seven victims in the Umzimhlava [Mzintlava] River in the north of the former Transkei black homeland.

"I'm told it looks like a fish but has the features of a horse,'' said Sigwela, promising to send officials to hunt down the monster.

His remarks drew only a few titters, amid calls of "mamlambo'' -- a reference to a beast from Xhosa tribal mythology which is said to live in rivers and, if caught, provide great wealth.

One sceptic however, Eddie Trent of the white dominated liberal Democratic Party, likened the monster to the myths surrounding Scotland's Loch Ness.

"But as far as I know Nessie hasn't eaten anyone,'' Trent said.



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Cape Argus (Cape Town, South Africa), May 16, 1997.

MAMLAMBO ON THE LOOSE Nine people are reported dead in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, all said to be victims of Mamlambo, the river monster.

Most recently the giant reptile was sighted near Lubaleko, a village on the Mzintlava River not far from Mount Ayliff, about 176 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Durban.

"Like many rural villages in what used to be the Transkei, Lubaleko is scattered over several square kilometers of undulating hillside country. The houses, some made of brick and others of mud, are far apart and linked only by winding footpaths. There is no electricity or piped water."

Police say the victims were drowned in the Mzintlava, which was swollen by heavy rains in Lesotho during the wet season.

"'I have seen some of the bodies of the so-called monster's victims,' Captain G. Mzuko of the Mount Ayliff Police told (the Cape Argus). 'They had all been in the water for some time and, as is often the case, river crabs had eaten away the soft parts of the faces and throats. In one case, the crabs were still clinging to the body when it was brought in. As far as we are concerned, there were cases of drowning, plain and simple.'"

"But to the people of the village, the mutilation just proves the monster's existence. 'It eats their faces off and sucks out the people's brains,' said an elderly Mr. Matshunga, walking the lonely track with his dogs. 'It is a big snake, and I have seen what it does.'" Witnesses describe Mamlambo as being about 20 meters (67 feet) long, with short, stumpy legs, a crocodilian body, plus "the head and neck of a snake, and it shines at night with a green light."

"A group of women returning from a meeting at the village school assured (Cape Argus reporter David Biggs) that the monster was real."

"'We are not just ignorant, superstitious people,' they told me. 'We are teachers. Educated. And we know that the monster is there. That is why we do not cross the river any more."

"Mthokozisi Sigcobeka (age 6) says his father was eaten by the monster. When he's older, he plans to get a gun and hunt it."

source



Zulu goddess?

There's alot of them. I could probably go through the archive of american-monsters and flood UM with them all.

There's alot of them. I could probably go through the archive of american-monsters and flood UM with them all.

These kinda sound like water-chupas.