It has a long mane and an even longer body - 10 metres (30ft) from crested head to mirror-scaled tail. But the Ninki Nanka, legendary "killer dragon" of west Africa, continues to prove elusive. Six people from the Devon-based Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) went to Gambia this month to look for the beast, which has often been "seen" by locals but never captured or photographed. In books it is usually portrayed as a giant lizard or a kind of dinosaur. The team spent a fortnight collecting reports of sightings and traipsing through swamps believed to be the Ninki Nanka's habitat. "Lots of people claimed to us that they knew someone, usually a grandparent or uncle, who had seen the creature," said Richard Freeman, the CFZ's director of zoology. "But very few had seen one themselves."

Folklore could explain the lack of witnesses: anyone who sees the Ninki Nanka is supposed to die within five years. But Mr Freeman wants to continue the search in Guinea: "People can laugh, but new species are still out there. This year a pig the size of a sofa was found in Brazil."

View: Full Article | Source: Guardian Unlimited

30 feet long and nobody has seen it?

that mirror-scaled tail sounds rather neat though- i guess that might conceal it a bit... but thirty feet?

It doesn't exist...The only large monitors to have know to existed in the past were in Australia..

This is still the best name for an animal ever. Here comes a Ninka Nanka! Run for your lives! Anyhow, there's so much folklore seemingly involved in this thing that it seems like it's a mythological version of an animal that's already known to exist. It just sounds too fantastical to be true.

Im not so sure it doesnt exist. India is infamous for the Buru. Why not have another large lizard in the dense jungles of Africa?
And there is one thing that gives this fella a big push to possibility. The locals know that it exists. Theyve been there quite a bit longer than we have. If there are any creatures that are supposedly alive, the local indians will know.