Ninki Nanka

 


The Ninki Nanka is a river monster from west Africa, especially Gambia. It’s an important figure in the Mandinka people’s mythology. The Ninki Nanka has varying appearances from place to place. Sometimes it’s snake like with a horse’s head, other times it had legs but is completely reptilian and dragon like. One variation that, which has become how the Ninki Nanka is mainly known by outsiders, is that of a horse headed, giraffe necked reptile with an unusual arrangement of horns on its head and a mane done its neck. The exact arrangement of horns varies, but its usually drawn with two horns on the back of its head and a unicorn like horn on the front. The Ninki Nanka has colourful and reflective scales that allow this massive creature camouflage and hide easily.


The Ninki Nanka is said to live in bodies of water, whether that be rivers, swamps or mangroves, and is most active during the rainy season. Much like the basilisk, the Ninki Nanka is said to have a deadly gaze, anyone who it looks at will die instantly. The Ninki Nanka is not immune to its own gaze, so locals would protect their villages from the beast by putting up mirrors to frighten it away. It was also ascribed a varying assortment of other abilities, depending on region, such as breathing fire, being venomous and spreading disease. But the deadly gaze is the Ninki Nanka’s most well known ability. And like many other monsters who live in swamps, parents would tell stories of the Ninki Nanka to children to frighten them away from dangerous waterways.


While the Ninki Nanka is primarily a figure of folklore, like every other African mythical beast, cryptozoologists have searched for it and pondered if it is a living dinosaur. Most often they pin the Ninki Nanka as a living sauropod, although a few have suggested it may be a ceratopsian because of the horns.


Sightings of the Ninki Nanka by outsiders have all been in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with no modern sightings outside of locals. Although the Center For Fortean Zoology sent an expedition to Gambia in 2006 and came out empty handed.


Some notable sightings were:


In 1911 The locals pressured the British to drain an entire lake after they said their villages had been attacked by the Ninki Nanka. After the British colonists did this no monster was found, although the villagers still took the precaution of putting up mirrors along the now emptied lake bed.


In the 1930’s Dr Thomas Baltimore went looking for the Ninki Nanka. He would follow many leads form locals about sightings of the beast, but was never able to explore deep into the swamps of Gambia because of deadly disease carrying mosquitoes being too much of a hazard.


Recorded sightings by locals include one in 1943, when a night watchman named Papa Jinda saw the Ninki Nanka during his watch, and reportedly died only two weeks later to a bad infection.


Another sighting happened in 2002, to a local truck driver, during a torrential downpour. He said the Ninki Nanka crossed the road in front of him, causing him to crash his truck, which came close to killing him.


And yet another local sighting was in 2003, when a park ranger named Momo Modu saw the Ninki Nanka in the Kiang West national park. He fell deathly ill shortly after the sighting, but was healed by an imam (a Muslim priest).


While historically the Ninki Nanka has been a vicious monster to be feared, in recent times views on the beast have softened with a growing interest in reviving traditional knowledge. Now the Ninki Nanka is seen as a guardian of nature, the spirit world and traditional knowledge. It can still be dangerous to people with ill intent, but can also bring good luck to those who respect it.



Sources:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninki_Nanka


https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Ninki_Nanka


https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryMonsters/comments/m3g6kf/ninki_nanka_a_legendary_creature_from_west/

https://ninkinanka.foundation/ninki-nanka-trail

https://wadr.org/our-heritage-ninki-nanka-the-fascinating-creature-from-gambian-folklore/

https://theillustrationist.com/2013/05/04/african-mythological-creatures-ninki-nanka-the-dragon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wru7DkEfgVU




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