The Nandi Bear: Ferocious
killer from the past
By Matthew J. Eaton
From: http://www.cryptozoology.com/cryptids/nandi_bear.php
" What the Abominable Snowman is to Asia, or the great Sea Serpent
is to the oceans, the Nandi Bear is to Africa. It is one of the
most notorious of those legendary beasts which have, so far, eluded capture
and the collector's rifle."
- Frank W. Lane
Called the most ferocious of African mystery beasts, the Nandi
Bear evokes cries of horror in both natives and Westerners alike.
Known
throughout East Africa as duba, kerit, chimisit, kikambangwe, vere,
sabrookoo, and many others. There are too many reports to simply
write it off as widespread myth. The sightings of the Nandi Bear
by Westerners backs up the reality of the beast. Officially there
are no members of the bear family in Africa in modern times, but
reports of bears or bear-like creatures are nothing new to Africa.
Herodotus, Pliny the elder and other writers from ancient times
placed bears in Africa. More recently, Dr. O. Dapper wrote in 1668
that "squirrels
with tails much larger than those in Europe, bears, wild cats, and
very venomous vipers..." all inhabited the Congo.
The Nandi Bear is often described as being like a large hyena
about the size of a lion. It is said to have a brownish red to
a dark
color coat. It is a nocturnal animal and is said to attack humans
only on dark moonless nights. It has been said to prey upon the
children and natives from the villages. There are cases when natives
haved killed the beast, normally by burning a hut it had entered.
Westerners have also shot at the beast, but without success. The
Nandi Bear has eluded both hunters and researchers alike to remain
unclassified by the scientific community.