The nyama is a cryptid reported from the Aruwimi River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo[1][2]
Description[]
The nyama is described as being large and hippopotamus-like, with a small head displaying a crest, like the lau. It is an amphibious animal which causes the land to tremble when it comes out of the water. It will kill humans and eat their brains, but not their flesh.[1][2]
Sightings[]
1888[]
James Sligo Jameson, an officer of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition stationed at Yambuya on the Aruwimi, a Congo tributary, wrote in his diary entry for 7 January 1888 that:[3]
| “ | Assad Farran [a Syrian interpreter] came to me this morning, and told me that a curious beast, which he was sure was a whale, habitually came out of the water near our two canoes, and fed on the grass on the bank, but disappeared back into the water on the approach of any one. He said the sentry over the canoes constantly saw it, and on my inquiring if he was certain that it was a whale, said, "Oh yes! It is something like the shape of a crocodile; I am sure it is a whale." I imagine the animal to be an iguana [monitor lizard]; however, he is to let me know the next time it is visible, for me to shoot it.
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” |
1912[]
A Belgian police lieutenant claimed one of his men had encountered a nyama in 1912:[1]
| “ | At the beginning of 1912, when he was a lieutenant in the Belgian Congo Police, Godart was going up-river on the Aruwimi in order to set up an outpost, later called Pengé on the highest navigable point on the river. He had pitched camp in the middle of the virgin forest on the left bank of the river, which in these upper reaches was called the Run, when he was surprised to feel a violent earthquake. He was even more surprised when the one soldier who formed his escort rushed off to the riverside with his Albini rifle in his hand.
Some time later the negro came back rather sheepishly and said as if to excuse himself: It had already gone back into the water. What? What do you mean?" asked Godart. The beast [nyama] which makes the earth shake when it comes out of the water — it has to be killed, but I didn't see it. The lieutenant was amused at this charmingly naïve explanation, but he did not want to humiliate the negro, who had shown nothing but courage, so he asked him several questions. Is it dangerous? Does it eat men? No, it leaves their bodies. But it kills them, and opens their head to eat the brain. Have you ever seen one? I haven't, but my brothers' have. Oh, and what is it like? It's a very big beast like a hippopotamus, but with a little head with feathers - and a crest like a cock's comb. The reader will have recognised the 'short crest of hair ... not unlike that of a crowned crane,' in the Nuer description of the lau. But Godart found this detail so absurd that he had to cut short his interrogation so as not to burst out laughing. All the same, he admired the negro's courage in not only coming with him into country which was then up in arms in revolt, but also in dashing off with only one cartridge in his rifle to attack what he thought was a terrifying monster. |
” |
Godart disbelieved the story at first, but changed his mind after the publication of Bernard Heuvelmans' On the Track of Unknown Animals.[1]
Similar cryptids[]
Heuvelmans connects the nyama to the lau and the lukwata.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138977525
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Jameson, James S. & Jameson, Mrs. James S. (1891) The Story of the Rear Column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition