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墨書 Inktalez
The second well-known incident occurred between 2001 and 2003.
According to legend, a large truck overturned on a small road near the nest of the Ninki Nanka in Giant West National Park while trying to avoid the creature.
It is said that when the monster moved, it created a deep trench in the road, prompting locals to build a bridge over it for easier passage.
However, the expedition team questioned this account, as the rust on the truck wreckage suggested that the timeline of the accident might not be accurate.
Additionally, what people referred to as a trench was found by the team to resemble an existing drainage system.
Ultimately, the expedition team interviewed a forest ranger named Mermodo, who was the only eyewitness they could find who had seen the Ninki Nanka. Mermodo stated that three years prior, in 2003, he had spotted the creature from a high ground overlooking the river.
According to his description, the Ninki Nanka had a horse's face and a serpent's body, lacking legs, measuring nearly a terrifying 160 feet in length. Its body was covered in mirror-like scales, with deep green and black skin and a feather-like crest on its head.
Since he saw it with its mouth closed at the time, he could not describe its teeth or tongue.
Mermodo mentioned that about two weeks after seeing the creature, he developed a severe skin disease and eventually sought help from an Islamic holy man who concocted a potion that saved him from further suffering.
The most interesting aspect of this incident was that when shown several images of creatures resembling dragons from China—such as the Komodo dragon, Brachiosaurus, and Nile monitor lizard—Mermodo unhesitatingly chose the Chinese dragon.
He believed that the form of the Chinese dragon closely resembled what he had seen, making it one of the rare discoveries of foreign sightings of creatures resembling Chinese dragons.
In 2008, a truth-seeking program also investigated the Ninki Nanka, but their process was fraught with difficulties.
Upon their arrival in Banjul, Gambia, local authorities confiscated most of their advanced equipment on grounds that it might contain illegal communication devices.
Without infrared thermal imaging and basic sonar equipment, they essentially lost their ability to see underwater.
A zoo director named Lamin Diba provided them with information about the Ninki Nanka, claiming that it was an amphibious creature covered in fish-like scales living upstream in the Gambia River.
Upon receiving this information, the team immediately set out by boat to Georgetown, a small town in the Gambia River basin, choosing to search for the Ninki Nanka near swamps at night.
However, with only simple small underwater cameras at their disposal, they found nothing except for some unidentified sounds occasionally emanating from the grass.
However, they obtained the so-called scales dropped by the Ninki Nanka from a witness named Sarif Narville.
At the end of the program, they brought the scales to Los Angeles reptile expert Ian Redshaw. After his examination and DNA testing, it was discovered that these scales came from a common fish species found in Gambia.
This summarizes all the documented events related to the Ninki Nanka that can be found up to now.
American cryptozoologist Derrydragon believes that the so-called Ninki Nanka may not be a singular entity but rather a collective term used by locals for various incomprehensible freshwater creatures, including sightings of the Giant Yellow Catfish or Elephant Seal.
In particular, regarding the Elephant Seal, he argues that the most commonly reported water monster in the region is actually a result of insufficient understanding of this creature.
The Elephant Seal belongs to the family Phocidae and is currently the largest carnivorous animal in the world.
Among them, the southern elephant seal is larger, reaching lengths of up to 20 feet and weighing over 9,000 pounds. They are found on islands such as Macquarie Island and South Georgia Island in the Southern Hemisphere, and have also been spotted along the southern coast of Africa.
Derrydragon believes that the seal's bulky body, its large tusks, combined with its inflatable nose can explain sightings of a huge creature with long horns, similar to what we previously discussed regarding Dinggonick.
His other theory leans towards idealism but explains eyewitness descriptions of creatures with multiple horns. He suggests that these could likely stem from sightings of surviving Sivatherium.
Sivatherium, also known as Sivatherium, was an extinct large ruminant that lived approximately 7 million years ago during the late Miocene and went extinct around 1 million years ago during the late Pleistocene.
It resembled a Hogfish but was larger, standing about 10 feet tall and weighing up to 3,000 pounds. It had a pair of broad antlers on its head and a pair of conical small horns above its eyes. With well-developed shoulder muscles, it is one of the largest known ruminants in history.
The issue with both theories lies in their relatively narrow interpretations of eyewitness descriptions, failing to account for characteristics such as attacks on humans and amphibious traits.
British cryptozoologist Richard Freeman holds a different opinion on this conclusion. As early as 2001 in Animal and Human Magazine, he mentioned that based on eyewitness descriptions, this could be identified as an animal similar to the Australian Monitor Lizard.
However, after concluding his exploration activities in 2006, he retracted this theory.
By studying all the information provided by witnesses, he believes that some gigantic and terrifying legends have distorted people's memories, leading locals to perceive it as a monster and attribute misfortune and death to this creature. The true Ninki Nanka might actually be an extinct or endangered giant python.
He also suggested that the legend of Ninki Nanka could stem from a malignant evolution of Pre-Islamic Serpent God Worship.
This theory has also received support from another ecologist in his field, Aurluis.
He believed that while the descriptions of the Ninki Nanka varied, there were several consistent features, such as the crest of hair on its head, reflective scales, and its enormous size.
This might suggest that the Ninki Nanka is a legend, a product of oral tradition, much like how local animal religions in Gambia have been influenced by Islamic folklore.
Ultimately, in his personal view, the likelihood of this creature being a product of legend is quite high.
Firstly, aside from the oral accounts of Mermodo, nearly all eyewitness descriptions come from secondhand reports. The characteristic that seeing this creature leads to death seems to suppress people's rational understanding of its existence. Additionally, cognitive biases stemming from regional and environmental differences may cause misunderstandings about known creatures.
Moreover, descriptions of large dragon-like beings are not uncommon in Africa, such as the Moklam in Congo, Bembe Aymoratucca, and Chipekwe in Zimbabwe, among many others.
These tales of abnormally large creatures are numerous across Africa; it is difficult to verify how many are true and how many are false. However, it cannot be denied that these legends provide an excellent reason for locals to profit.
After concluding his exploration activities, Professor Freeman summarized that following the airing of his interview program, he received countless letters.
In no time, almost every local became an expert on the Ninki Nanka, claiming to know where to find this creature, but the price they demanded was unacceptable.
His final statement in the blog expressed that in a country filled with scams, uncovering the truth behind the Ninki Nanka would be a daunting task.
Of course, nothing is absolute. In the highly biodiverse African Rainforest, the possibility of undiscovered giant creatures remains significant.
We can only hope that in the near future, humanity can conduct a more thorough exploration of that mysterious jungle.
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