  
Mngwa
Location of Sightings:
Africa - Tanzania
Earliest - Latest Reported Sighting:
Early 1900's To Present
Description:
This creature is said to be in the form of a giant feline, as huge as a donkey at times, it has gray fur and is said to be marked like a tabby.
Odors described during or right after
encounters with this creature:
None Reported
Sounds - Speech:
A cross between a lion and a leopard
Interesting Sighting Details:
The Mngwa is one of the most feared African Mystery beasts. It is said to be in the form of a giant feline, as huge as a donkey at times, it has gray fur and is said to be
marked like a tabby. Most scientists defend against the Mngwa saying that it is a known species, only that it is of a different color. But, facts have been pointed out by
those that have had sighting of the Mngwa that the tracks left by the Mngwa are unlike the tracks of other known giant felines. This creature is otherwise called as the
Nunda. When translated, the name Mngwa means “The Strange One.”
Captain William Hitchens is one of the few men who have written down accounts of the Mngwa. A passage on the Mngwa can be found on the Captain’s: African Mystery
Beasts. In the article, Captain Hitchens describes the Mngwa as “The Terror of the Coastlands”. He describes the Mngwa as it is retold by the natives. He was a skeptic
at the very beginning, but since he went on many events that attempted to track down the animal and he has also helped men who have been mauled by the creature, the
Captain soon became a believer.
The Mngwa is such a creature that strikes intense fear in the hearts of many men and women in Africa. They swear that the Mngwa is neither a Lion nor a Leopard and
they fear it much more that those two giant cats. The fear of the residents in response to the Mngwa is best described in one of Captain Hitchens’ passages where he tells
of the situation of the nights following an alleged Mngwa attack:
“For nights the whole town lived in fear, and although we doubled the police-guards we had difficulty in getting the men to go on duty. But I have seen those same men rout
a lion out of a bush-patch with sticks! They swore that this beast was not a lion, nor a leopard, but a Mngwa.”
The existence of the Mngwa is doubtless in the minds of those that have had experienced its power in one way or another. The creature is even mentioned in a popular
hunting song that mentions the Lion (Simba), the Leopard (Nsui) and the Mngwa as three different creatures, proof that there is no confusion in the minds of the natives
when it comes to the three creatures. Another account of the Mngwa comes form the hunter Patrick Bowen who has said that he had once tracked the Mngwa and
recorded it to be like a leopard but that it was as big as the biggest lion and that its hairs were brindled.
There have been no recent recorded sightings and reports of the Mngwa, but it does not mean that the creature does not exist. The lack in recent recorded sighting may
just be due to the fact the interest in the African Safari is not as it once was.
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