The Inkanyamba is a legendary water serpent that lives in the base of Howick Falls, South Africa.
Description
The only known sighting of the Inkanyamba is by a local of Cape Town, who has a photograph he took mounted on the wall of his bar. The photo is hazy and shows the vague silhouette of a long necked creature similar to many of the Loch Ness Monster photos.
Local mythology describe Inkanyamba as a gigantic serpent with the head of an antelope (more than one head in some cases), and prominent fore-flippers.
Places
The creature is supposed to live in a waterfall lake area in the northern forests of the Kwala Zulu, South Africa.
Behaviour
Old natives of the area feared and worshipped the creature. For many years natives would push a virgin off the waterfall to her death to appease the beast. This tradition is acted out every year by actors as a tourist attraction. Notorious for his destructive tendencies as he is, the Zulu people of that region are loath to even portray his true physical form in sculpture or painting, choosing instead to use drawings of storm-clouds to represent Inknayamba and highlight the nature of the devastation that inevitably follows him in his wake.
Stories
Numerous tales of horror are told by this creature among the Zulus, most of them revolving around the great menace he poses to the humanity that lives in the vicinity of his domain. Most of these stories revolve around the Howic Falls area in Kawa-Zulu, a turbulent fall with a steep drop of 90 meters. It is here that the Inkayamba resides. Sacred to the natives, only sangomas or traditional witch doctors can approach his lake to offer prayers there, without fear of being devoured by him. Certain corpses that have been found floating there, displayed certain body parts that had been partially consumed, an act immediatley attributed by local superstition to Inkanyamba, though a group of vocal but largely unheeded skeptics were adamant that some large species of eels were the culprits. So powerful is belief in Inknayamba's mastery of the lake, that a white S.African who once visited the lake recalls witnessing the astonishing sight of a group of women that had assembled on the shore to beg Inkayamba to return their relative who'd had the misfortune to drown in the waters without his corpse ever being recovered by his loved ones. A day later he claims that the missing body in question washed up on the shore, as if to testify that Inkanyamba was receptive to the petition put to him the previous day.
But as terrifying as the mortal danger that Inkanyamba might pose to intruders into his realm might be, it easily pales in comparision to the clamities that blight the people when this monstrous beast actually decides to temporarily leave his aquatic lair, a disastrous event that occasionally occurs during the summer months when he feels the need to seek a mate or do battle with a rival of his own kind. Taking to the skies on the back of a large and angry storm cloud, he generates ferocious winds wherever he goes, unleashing devastating deluges of rain and hail. At times, even tornadoes arise as a result of his heedless disregard for the lesser things that dwell on the earth. Especially at risk to become his victims are those who live in huts with unpainted roofs made of corrugated steel. Seeing their roofs shimmer, Inkayamba mistakes them for water and descends upon them with his full force, utterly wrecking these filmsy constructions in the process. Desperate to avoid this terrible fate, most people often paint their roofs.
No wonder then that the Zulus are cautioned since their birth never to say his name aloud for fear that doing just that might attract his attention.
Scientific evidence continues to dismiss Inkanyamba's existence, with educated individuals insisting that Inkanyamba has been inspired by either one of two large local species of eels that are known to be semi-terrestrial. Two famous photographs purpotedly taken of this creature at the request of a local paper, have been dismissed as hoaxes, as have all the later shots that have followed them. White S.Africans remain highly doubtful, with the most infamous naysayer being an animal collecter who refused to release a multi-headed snake that he had captured in the bush, even after being confronted by townsfolk anxious to avoid the wrath of an Inkanyamba looking for its baby.
Birds are often supposed to be heralds of Inkanyamba's imminent coming. When they begun to fly erratically in the sky, one automatically knowns that the fearsome creature approaches.
Theories about origin
The existence of this creature has been traced back to the ancient cave-paintings of the Bushmen,a now almost extinct ethnic group that venerated this creature as a bringer of rain and a protector against their foes. Since the decline of their race can be traced to the coming of more recent arrivals like the Zulus, it comes as no surprise that the latter should harbour a deathly fear of Inkanyamba.