A Ninki Nanka is a legendary creature in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

Description

The Ninki Nanka has been described as "the most frightening spirit around the lower Gambia" and as "a sea spirit, a dragon-like creature with the attributes of a '

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

'." According to Lady Southorn, local residents were "dogged by fear of devils and chief among these is the Ninki Nanka... fseen by a man is a sure sign of approaching death." The Ninki Nanka kept many lower Gambians away from fertile

swamps A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

, rivers, hills, and creeks, and the creature was often believed to inhabit swampy forests. Descriptions of the creature vary across different tribes, but most contend that the animal is reptilian. It is depicted as having the head of a

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

with the body of a

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

or a blend of

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

and

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

, and sometimes simply as a large snake. Some accounts of the legendary creature describe it as a 9m or 30-foot long marsh-dwelling beast having a body like that of a crocodile and long neck like that of a giraffe with a horse's head along with three horns. Common across descriptions is its believed fatal stare, akin to

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...

, which is said to cause death upon eye contact. Folklore advises carrying mirrors to deflect its gaze. The animal is said to be extremely large and very dangerous. A 1906 commissioner's report describes the creature:

The Mandingoes are firm believers in genii; every village is supposed to have two of these, a bad spirit and a good spirit. In some cases they say the village spirits or genii are male and female, sometimes the male is good and the female bad, and vice versa. A well-known Mandinka myth is the “ninki nanko”; this is supposed to resemble a gigantic crowned serpent which resides in the thickest bush. If a native sees the body of this creature he believes that he will be afflicted with dangerous sickness but that if he sees the eyes or crown it means instantaneous death. No native will go anywhere near where one of these creatures is supposed to be.

Evil spirits such as the Ninki Nanka were believed to bring about

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

. While there is no direct historical recollection of a drought or famine caused by these spirits, local sources believed that environmental catastrophes documented in written records might have been interpreted as the work of supernatural forces. Tales of the creature were never recorded in any sort of non-modern text but the story of it has spread from tribe to tribe all over Africa. There is a song called "Ninki Nanka" on the album ''Casamance au clair de lune'' (1984) by the Senegalese music group

Touré Kunda Touré Kunda is a Senegalese band, noted for their musical versatility and political activism. Their 40-year career encompasses recordings in over six languages and collaborations with well-known musicians such as Carlos Santana and Talking Head ...

Appearances

A group of "dragon hunters" from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) went to

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

in the summer of 2006 to investigate the Ninki Nanka and take testimony from those who have claimed to have seen the mythical creature. One interviewee who claimed to have had an encounter with a Ninki Nanka said it looked similar to an image of a

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon or loong is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture generally. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms, such as Bixi (mythology), turtles and Chiwen, fish, but are most commonly ...

. The expedition, known as the "J. T. Downes Memorial Gambia Expedition 2006", received a fair amount of media attention, including coverage in a BBC Online article.

In popular culture

Ninki Nanka are featured in the 2021 fantasy novel, ''

Skin of the Sea ''Skin of the Sea'' is a 2021 young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian Welsh writer Natasha Bowen. Bowen's debut novel follows Simi, a mami wata who travels across sea and land in search of the Supreme Creator after breaking a law that threatens th ...

'' by

Natasha Bowen Natasha Bowen is a Nigerian-Welsh writer and teacher. She writes fantasy books for young adults. She is best known for her '' New York Times Bestselling'' novel ''Skin of the Sea''. Early life and education Natasha Bowen was born in Cambri ...

. It is also depicted in the 2022 fantasy novel, " Moon Witch, Spider King" by Marlon James. The creature is featured on "Ninki Nanka; Kikiyaon," episode 13 of Destination Truth's season 2.

References

External links

BBC article
{{Dragons African dragons West African legendary creatures