Nandi Bear
If you believe any of this at all, the Nandi bear was a creature that used to live in East Africa. Or, if you're really a believer...a creature that still lives there today. Nandi bears apparently wander the highlands of Kenya searching for..brains.
The Nandi bear doesn't look much like a bear at all, at least based on the descriptions. It is about the size of a large lion, with heinously sharp claws and giant teeth. At over four feet tall, it has high-set front shoulders but a strange sloping back that more closely resembles a hyena. The Nandi bear is said to have reddish dark fur and while it is agile, many sightings describe it as having a strange or loping gait. In addition to wickedly sharp teeth and a short tail, it also is said to have red eyes.
According to the Nandi people, it hunts humans specifically to eat their brains. It often pounces from tree branches on unsuspecting prey to sup on the delicacy of their brains. This is due to the fact that sometimes, victims of the Nandi bear would be found scalped and missing their brains.
The first written descriptions of the Nandi bear began popping up in the 20th century. Geoffrey Williams filed a report of a Nandi bear is western Kenya. He saw the strange beast from about 30 yards. According to him, the Nandi people knew about this strange beast, so he nicknamed it the Nandi bear... a name that's stuck around to this day. Less than a decade later would come an even bigger sighting of the Nandi bear by Major Toulson in 1912, when he saw one while camping at Uasin Gishu. The creature was attempting to enter his camp's kitchen (presumably drawn by the smells), and it attacked some of the dogs defending the kitchen. When the dogs continued to attack, the creature hobbled away and made a moaning noise.
There haven’t been many confirmed sightings of the Nandi bear since the 1990s, but the tales of it live on.
Of course, some believe the Nandi bear not only isn't a bear but doesn't exist at all. A common theory and explanation of the Nandi bear is that it is actually a giant hyena. Which, giant hyenas used to exist in Africa...so maybe there is a handful of leftovers from a different era.
Others believe a similar theory, that these sightings were the dying breed of Atlas bears which went extinct in the late 19th century. This may account for the steep drop of sightings by the mid-20th and 21st.
Thanks to Lisa M. for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The image is not directly related to the story. The panoramic picture captures the beauty of one of Kenya's most beautiful falls and the gorge it curves as it travels downstream from the highlands. The Rains make the fall to be magnificent with thundering water falling over it during the wettest period in the region. It was taken by Vinniescent. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
