This drawing of the mahamba is from Roy P Mackal’s 1987 book, A Living Dinosaur?
This legendary reptile is said to reside in the swamps and rivers of the Republic of the Congo. The Mahamba is mostly sighted around the Likouala swamps. The creature is said to feast on any animal it can get its teeth into, including human. It is also said to dig tunnels in order to sleep, sometimes being up to 1,000 feet into the earth.
This creature is typically described as looking much like a normal crocodile but it is always reported as being at least 50 feet long. This is much larger than the typical 20 feet length of a regular crocodile in the area. Witnesses claim that this animal is a new species, not a normal crocodile. Informants to Mackal claimed “insisted that the Mahambas were not just outsized specimens of the ordinary variety”.
