Pumina

Alleged photograph of the pumina taken in August 1959 by an engineer named Kindt in the Katanga Region, some sixty miles northwest of Kamina.

Other names: Moma, mpumina

Country reported: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria

The pumina is a cryptid giant snake reported from the Kasai and western Katanga regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially near Lake Upemba. It is described as being 38 to 46 feet long and resembling an African rock python (Python sebae), which is not known to grow larger than 33 feet. It's head is said to be 30 inches wide, and it is also said to have a dark back and a white belly.

Mary Kingsley wrote that she had been:

"assured by the missionaries in Calabar [in Nigeria, near the Cameroon border], that there was a python brought into Creek Town in the Rev. Mr. Goldie's time, that extended the whole length of the Creek Town mission-house verandah and to spare. This python must have been over 40 feet. I have not a shadow of doubt it was."

In August 1959, Belgian pilot Colonel Remy van Lierde claimed to have seen an enormous python whilst flying over Katanga in the Belgian Congo. The snake reared up towards Van Lierde's helicopter, and, according to Van Lierde:

"as we had a camera on board, I decided to make several passes over the hole where the snake was in, in able [sic] to let the man take a picture of it, and I made certainly between four and six passes right over the hole where the snake was in. By then I was already flying for 25 years, so I've a very good experience of measuring things. And I would say the snake I saw there was close to 50 foot, close to 50 feet - I don't know, you say 50 foot, or 50 feet? - but very close to, certainly."

The man who took the photograph was a mechanic named Kindt.