Mythical Creatures and Monsters of Africa

Mythical Creatures and Monsters of African folklore.
A glimpse into the diverse and captivating myths of the African continent.
The creatures and monsters encountered in this video:
Tikoloshe - Zulu and Xhosa folklore
Dingonek - East African folklore (near Lake Victoria)
Mokèlé-Mbèmbé - Pygmy tribes mythology (Congo Basin, Africa)
Popobawa - Swahili folklore (East Africa, Zanzibar, Tanzania)
Mami Wata - Folklore of Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon
Gbahali - Mandinka mythology (West Africa, Liberia, Gambia)
Impundulu (Lightning Bird) - Zulu mythology (South Africa)
Ammit - Ancient Egyptian mythology
Grootslang - San and Khoi-Khoi folklore (South Africa)
Yumboes (Yoruba fairies) - Yoruba folklore (Nigeria and West Africa)
Inkanyamba - Zulu and Xhosa folklore (South Africa)
Kalanoro - Madagascar folklore
Kongamato - Folklore of Zambia and Congo
Ninki Nanka - West African folklore (Gambia and Senegal)
Jengu - Sawa folklore (Cameroon)
Anansi - Ashanti folklore (Ghana and other Akan-speaking groups)
Kishi - Angola folklore
Bouda - Folklore of Morocco and North Africa
Mngwa - Swahili folklore (East Africa)
Adze - Ewe mythology (Ghana and Togo)
Asanbosam - Akan mythology (Ghana)
Abada (Emela-ntouka) - Pygmy tribes mythology (Congo Basin, Africa)
Aigamuxa - Khoikhoi folklore (South Africa)
Ga-Gorib - San folklore (Southern Africa)
Kianda - Luhya folklore (Kenya)
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Video Details: Picture Montage in 4K UHD+: Images Larger than 4000x3200 Resolution;
Music:
Chee Zee Jungle - Primal Drive by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
#mythology #folklore #mythicalcreatures #africanfolklore #africanmythology, #africanmyths

[@MythosTheHistorian]

What's your favorite creature from African Folklore and why?

[@CuteDwarf11]

I like the Impundulu since they remind me of the Native American Thunderbirds; they're totally badass.

[@nicobakang9631]

Little correction the bouda or boudai are not creatures or cryptids from Morocco but from Ethiopia. Besides great video , I was expecting to here about the eloko but its ok ... Keep up

[@nicobakang9631]

From ur video its the Bouda but my favourite is the Eloko

[@johnboats9075]

Ananasi

[@roxanneweichinger9318]

🙂The Jengu water spirit, I think mermaids are pretty cool.

[@tsnophaljakarax9963]

You know what would be cool? An open-world game based on African mythology. Not just with the monsters, but the amazing wildlife as well.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

It would be cool if we could also learn about actual African cultures as well.

[@Lion_Heart_33]

I agree. Our wildlife and folklore beings need to be learnt about in the West and the rest of the world.

[@corneliusfarrell8673]

Starring T'challa/Black Panther, Shuri, Nakia and Okoye

[@ladykoiwolfe]

@@corneliusfarrell8673 we said Actual African Culture. Wakanda is cool, but it's not real.

[@corneliusfarrell8673]

@@ladykoiwolfe ik im just using it for fiction

[@goodorusty]

It seems like every culture in the world share similar folkloric creatures. The ones that seem almost universal are water spirits, mischievious imp/goblin-like creatures, terrifying vampiric creatures, boogeyman-like creatures, and some kind of serpentine/dragon-like creature. This was an interesting video.

[@King_kami36]

Interesting fact….if you seclude a population for 1000 years with no contact with society or knowledge of things before hand it’s 100% guaranteed they will have a myth or legend of dragons that links almost directly with at least one culture from the outside world

[@talkingdomination1928]

Even spiders. No matter where in the world, you just can’t escape spiders

[@culture4519]

@@talkingdomination1928Antarctica is safe

[@ottdeon]

well when u take into account that they are also considered "Spirits"...." lucifer took 1/3 of the angels with him.

[@Bitchslapper316]

Also powerful being descending from the sky

[@Lion_Heart_33]

Epic video. I loved it. Thank you. One powerful being that was left out is the Nyami-Nyami from the Zambezi River and Lake Kariba between my country of Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 and Zambia 🇿🇲 ( where I live as a wildlife conservationist ). He is a River God in the form of a Serpent who protects the land and people in times of hardship and trouble. During the '50s, when the Kariba dam wall was being built, huge stroms and floods pounded the construction with some lives being lost in the process. The Tonga people of whom he helps say it was his wrath against the disrespect of the river and Kariba Gorge. Since then, sightings of a serpetine being have been seen ( similar to the Loch Ness Monster ). What makes it more fascinating is the fact my father, who is a game ranger, saw a set of three humps speeding rapidly away from one of the islands. Being a wildlife expert, he said it couldn't have been elephants playing in the water nor a pid of hippos. He also said it was too large to be a python or sanke of any known kind.

[@kitsunekimchi118]

Ahhh, there's that African Folklore vid I've been waiting for. Thanks, mate. You did my country's legends proud

[@trollmastermike52845]

You could make a banger of a film like clash of the titans with this lore. Just needs to be done right because you can easily fall into a politically correct trash film category. Honestly, you could do a lion king concept where the heir hoes into exile fights different beasts from legends and returns to save the kingdom from corruption. Lion king/lord of the ring returns of the king.

[@theec0median23]

Monster Hunter needs to take more inspiration from all these cultures, some of these are bone chillingly amazing

[@SagnikBiswas-ec6iy]

African mythology is perhaps the most mysterious, intriguing and interesting.

[@bobdrooples]

What makes you say that? The patronising mythos of the mysterious dark continent? Sick of it. It's too often packaged as monolithic "African Mythology" and rubs me the wrong way.

[@Talleyhoooo]

@@bobdrooplesgod you need to touch grass

[@bobdrooples]

@@Talleyhoooo I can guarantee you've misattributed me and read loaded words where none was meant. Touch grass? Pass, it's winter and the time for tales in front of the fire.

[@Talleyhoooo]

@@bobdrooples that comment somehow made your original’s even more cringe and stupid than before

[@erickchristensen746]

@@bobdrooples You need to grow up dude

[@Vejur9000]

People can laugh all they want… but Africa is also the greatest, most amazing continent on earth. The cradle of civilization. I wouldn’t be surprised at how many cryptids turn out to be true in this primordial piece of earth.

[@JessicaD.-vb9ho]

Nah everyone knows how majestic the continent is, it's the majority of people who reside there that make it less appealing and prevent people from wanting to visit it lol

[@LeoBlight]

@@JessicaD.-vb9hoyeah I guess that’s what colonization would do to a place. It’s sad!

[@JessicaD.-vb9ho]

@@LeoBlight hmmm weird other colonized places aren't in the same state then.

[@LeoBlight]

@@JessicaD.-vb9ho yeah. I guess that happens when the colonizers don’t actually leave! That is weird.

[@JessicaD.-vb9ho]

@@LeoBlight boy am I glad they didn't leave, thanks to them by the time I got here there was an education system, I can read and write and understand science, I'd much rather get an operation from a qualified doctor, rather than have people do a ritual dance over me to get the evil spirit out lol some people have different outlooks on that kinda stuff.

[@CuteDwarf11]

Impundulu makes me think of Thunderbirds from Native American Folklore .

[@MythosTheHistorian]

Yes! They are quite similar!

[@CuteDwarf11]

@@MythosTheHistorian You definitely don't want to get on their bad side...

[@montanachristeson5364]

This is what I was kinda thinking

[@ghostofaforgottenweedle]

Seeing that a creature like Mami Wata exists, I wonder why this wasn't used for a good movie script. No, we re-color Arielle, an existing northern creature that's white. Africa has such a rich mythology, that should be material for a bunch of movies, games, stories and what not.

[@Waterseeker_]

Mermaids aren't white, they're fictional.

[@beccaknight5763]

Kianda art looks drop dead gorgeous

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you for sharing the mythology with us

[@MythosTheHistorian]

thank you m8 for being our follower!

[@-RONNIE]

@@MythosTheHistorian I always liked accurate history and good content

[@ladykoiwolfe]

I was absolutely thrilled with how many of these I don't know. I love learning about new creatures and beings from folklore and mythology. And the Abada was absolutely Metall! It's probably one of my favorite unicorns already. I need to go learn more about it.

[@naeptae]

it is interesting how the majority of spirit water mentioned are mermaid like creatures, a very few considered to be part of the good guys. It's so rich the mythology, hope one day you can make a videos with whole tales of these guys :D

[@MythosTheHistorian]

some of them will have definitely their own video sin the future :)

[@ladykoiwolfe]

It might have to do with dangerous creatures living in those life giving waters. It's a dichotomy that has given rise to water creatures around the world known for either blessing or harming on seeming whim.

[@joejett5084]

I like Lupe fiasco song concept wav files about the long chains which are the spirits of people who jumped off of slave ships during the trans Atlantic slave trade and gained supernatural powers and then sunk other slave ships within the Atlantic. I think that story needs to be developed more and needs to add Mami Wata.

[@BabluKhan-bt7on]

Amazing bro,thanks for this knowledge

[@thetraveler7368]

It’d be awesome to have a connected movie-verse based entirely on African folklore.

[@SandMan1998]

Monsterverse

[@thetraveler7368]

@@SandMan1998 except they aren’t monsters, so it’s not really a monsterverse.

[@zh2266]

It'd be on considered too "woke" but a lot of folk

[@thetraveler7368]

@@zh2266 not necessarily.

[@mango_raider4116]

​@@zh2266this is what boomers sound like when they purposely misconstrue what their youngers have to say because they don't wish to understand and would rather pretend they can't.

[@patrickb1303]

So basically all African folklores boil down to “be careful outside the village or you will get eaten by something” seems like pretty good advice.

[@dasmensch2317]

Amazing video thank you man

[@MythosTheHistorian]

Glad you liked it!

[@dragowolfraven3806]

Nice. I have seen some of these in my D&D/Pathfinder books.They need to be in video games and movies.

[@CountryBoy109945]

I love mythology. I took a mythology and anthropology course one time. Awesome time.

[@kagisotom9468]

I have been waiting for this thank you 😊

[@domunicadriaanse4964]

This is yet to be my favourite ❤️ one

[@raistlinmajere5550]

I love how many shapeshifters there are i do wonder exactly why that is

[@FireDragonHoard]

I like how the big spider is just a goofy guy looking to have a good time

[@ETOILEPHANTOME]

We also have Mami Wata in Guadeloupe, we call her Manman Dlo (same thing but in creole).

[@EldritchGrimoire]

My folks are Ghanian, and growing upI remember my mom would'nt get near bodies of water. Everytime my dad and siblings would play in the ocean or even pools she'd be as far from shore as possible while still being able to see us. Years later shr said she saw Mami Wata growing up. She lived near the coast and it was often used as a boogeyman story to make sure kids came home before nightfall, very similar to La Llorana. I'd completely forgotten about that

[@donovan5656]

I'd recommend the book Black Leopard Red Wolf, a grim dark Afro-fantasy that features several of these monsters.

[@r.n.holmes5625]

You know, so many of these legends would make for an amazing book series or TV show, movies, but you'd have to do it just right. Otherwise you'd lose the whole point of the legends.

[@XohjaiSbarkeater]

Imagine being a 14 yo Zulu kid sitting around board of playing mancala during monsoon season and seeing the lightning and thinking, damn, that would make a bad ass story.....

[@diracsea4590]

Some of these creatures are cool,

[@evanlord6428]

This was awesome, thanks

[@generaleerelativity9524]

Kishi/Bouda are more than likely the same entity just given a different name by different cultures and explains the origin of the Hyena looking Dogmen.

[@nicobakang9631]

Not really kishi a man , in fact a very attractive man who seduces woman and it's done he devours them with the hyena heard at the back of his head

[@MangeTak-t6n]

I enjoy this video very much then.

[@SonySteals]

Pretty cool! Never thought about african mythology. They seem to like shape-shifting things

[@atinarista1022]

Very interesting

[@channingmartin1197]

Thank you guys💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@mr.bloodworth6004]

anybody else find it interesting that even in the deep jungles of africa they still know what mermaids are?

[@Daron7181]

Mermaid folklore is in much of the world. In Japanese myth, they’re called Ningyō. However, over there, they are more monstrous in appearance.

[@Enkabard]

Not that much, even in time without easy information source on internet, people who travelled shared stories and legends frequently. Countless people wrote books which sold and reached all over the world, and even in medieval times you could get books from one continent into another. Europeans travelled to the Himalaya Mountains to see Yeti, and Africans shared stories of mermaids with sailors on the shores of Africa, etc.

[@randomdude8202]

It is weird how many on these shared among disconnected cultures all around the world.

[@TheLun4tic]

so the Arielle Remake could have been a "Mami Wata" story which would have brought in something fresh and new but instead they chose to make her a Danish Fairy Tale with a Black Woman.

[@lordslive4948]

You've got ads on your vids now ,good for you ,seems like an infection to us watchers

[@champcpr]

God of war in Africa!!!

[@adr3naliinx21]

The pronunciations are hilarious. Blees you for eternity, my good man!

[@idiom2805]

Bingo time! -Shapeshifter -Crocodile -A woman -Serpent -Vampire -Dinosaur -Slightly altered animal

[@Daron7181]

🤯 dude.

[@FlagWaverFlagBearer]

Lol @ a woman

[@chuey2846]

This came into my feed and i thought to myself "if the real ones are so dangerous what are the myths like"

[@isaacgarcia8686]

Tikoloshe sound like forest Gnomes or Duendes.

[@mariaostborg7971]

My favorite is dingonek 🐊🐆

[@clobbyhops]

Beautiful artwork 👌👌👌🔥

[@trillionaire8886]

I remember a folklore tale from Africa my mom read to me when I was little. It was about a giant with his heart in his finger & that was the only way to kill him & the hero had to guess. Anyone know this?

[@Bonlaws]

Grootslang means bigsnake in dutch, which south african is loosely similar to, made me chuckle

[@Nyctophora]

Fascinating, thank you! Good to see the Mngwa :)

[@someone-wo5nu]

Thx

[@thetruecrimeshow6882]

Have to wonder if these images are AI generated. I liked them and the narration.

[@michaelmarto69]

Groot slang is Dutch for big snake

[@alabanii_7669]

You forgot to add the most popular of all among all the Nigerians “Ojuju Calaber”.

[@dnmz1885]

Grootslang literally means big snake

[@thebigomel1979]

I like how the last one was tyla if you know you know

[@Mexican00b]

54 countries in the african continent... i think this is too "summarized"

[@mojo_joju]

Alrighty then, here I go down the African Mythology rabbit hole

[@jimstrange3475]

The scariest one of all is the dreaded job application.

[@thefrontlineplans7068]

Ok, so respect nature, don’t wander around aimlessly, simp for water spirits. I think I’m ready to move to Africa!

[@jedamaral1864]

I like how that one is just a Seal , they are aggressive for sure

[@SolarinDay]

I'm seeing a fertile ground for many movies.

[@Ferralsnow]

Never knew our people had so many vampires in our mythology

[@cloneofethan]

Imagine going to a remote part of North Africa and trying to explain to someone with broken English, that Buddha is not Bouda

[@apocratos0174]

Yep We almost forget that África is an old continent and have its own myths and creeds. Thing is, we are just bombarded with american, european and asian myths that we forget about african myths...

[@balance1619]

they should make kratos turn into a mythical creature slayer instead of a god slayer 3-4 games more minimum

[@LittleMoose1]

What if lake Victoria has a tiny population of of some sort of walrus? The dingoneks description sounds like a walrus to me.

[@MyDarkrai95]

I don’t know how this has almost 100k views but only 17 likes lol.

[@mentkansleyunitedstatesgov6364]

Some of these fertility goddesses got me acting up yo

[@goatboy150]

LMAO so many clever references to the same familiar parasite.

[@CaseyClouse-qj8ok]

Wow that fuckin rock!!!❤❤❤

[@0zero739]

Sorry man, but Ga-Gorib is actually a demon or a spirit of evil that lures people into a pit. Also Ga-Gorib can either mean the spotted one or not the spotted one. But let me know if I’m wrong.

[@silvertheelf]

This is the first time I ever heard the grootslang being capable of shapeshifting, additionally it’s supposed to by a hybrid of Elephant and Serpent. I am going to say that you got some information wrong.

[@blankfacekillah1013]

I've never heard of Mami wata blessing anybody 😂

[@jayexotic7908]

God of war sequel?

[@d34dw0od5]

African version of “The Witcher”

[@gavindietz5520]

Take a shot every time he says malevolent.

[@Neo.Jordon]

2:30 mami wata looks a lot like the new ariel little mermaid

[@mattamay1]

The most mythical creature in Africa is the father

[@lewisdu-pont1651]

the name you looking for is KHOSA which is a clan and not "corsa"

[@kaarthikeyan8227]

Isn't Emela ntouka the horned elephant killer.

[@mango_raider4116]

Would love for some people with great knowledge of these different mythologies to work on an entertaining body of work like a TV show or movie series, or perhaps games, like DND or even video games

[@TheMikesc15]

I can't help but see a lot of resemblance in these creatures and well, dinosaurs. As in, I wonder how many of these, possibly were invented from people simply finding fossils and having no idea where they came from.

[@ch3rrikiss]

They may have been old recounts of now extinct large predators. These tribes walked the same ground early man once did, those word of mouth stories evolve into legend over time.

[@TheMikesc15]

@@ch3rrikiss sure, but most of the animals listed are such malplaced concoctions of different animals that you gotta go quite a while further back than a few hundred years to find said animals, hell, even a few thousand I feel would be too little.

[@ch3rrikiss]

@@TheMikesc15 true but there have been humans in Africa for over 100,000 years, they even co existed with other forms of human.... Them finding fossils while evading large predators sounds epic!

[@TheMikesc15]

@@ch3rrikiss I like the idea but it's extremely unlikely any of that would've made it into our history today, given language kinda...began around 150.000 years ago

[@ch3rrikiss]

@@TheMikesc15 I would agree with you and say nigh on impossible due to colonial history and wars .... It is what it is I guess

[@icemountaindragon5057]

Wait! Where’s Apophis? Isn’t that from Egypt too?

[@MythosTheHistorian]

indeed Apophis is from Egypt, but is not quite considered a creature / monster. It is more like a symbolic and mythological entity embodying themes of darkness and eternal struggle. Its essence differs from the creatures I discussed in this video.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

Egypt could have an entire video all it's own. But, then I'm sure there are a great many more creatures that were left unexplored in this one. Africa is kinda huge.

[@vincentowusutakyia5292]

Am from Ghana, it is not Asanbosam, it is rather SASABONSAM

[@scrapper3494]

"In some tales the Impundulu is associated with witchcraft, serving as a familiar to witches and sorcerors." 3:56 Anyone who can compel the Impundulu to serve them is someone to tread *very* lightly around.

[@finnover9781]

Hang on, the Popobawa's only supposed to have one eye. Also, that thing is associated with *rape* as well.

[@malikjohnson4799]

Yumboes come from Wolof mythology, not Yorùbá. Specifically, they come from a Wolof subgroup, the Lebou people. The closest mythology Yorùbá culture has that is akin to fairies are the Iwin, also sometimes called ọ̀rọ̀.

[@leestewart72]

Instead of blackwashing European myths and legends, it would be nice to see some original stories involving the many stories and folklore of Africa.

[@bradonbyrd8061]

Oh ho oh

[@InstigatorDJ]

Its spelled "Tokoloshe"

[@jakomioftherose2434]

I don't like spiders. They scare the shit out of me. Like J'ba Fofi.

[@1000xdigital]

Plot twist : tokolosh are very real.

[@Gat720Dua]

Africa really likes mermaids.

[@anniesossa]

I really love the effort and research u put into these videos but I’m from Africa and ur not pronouncing most of those names correctly. Please even in future videos on any mythological beings like Native American ones for eg make sure ur pronouncing the names correctly 😩once again thanks for these types of videos especially on Africa just find out how to say them properly pls pls pls😩

[@greygremlin1248]

And i thought japanese and nordic creatures were a combination of weird and scary

[@jonnywatts2970]

Trying to steal off Mr mythos I see. I see you!

[@MythosTheHistorian]

No idea about Mr. Mythos before, but checked it out now-cool channel! but... a newer channel than mine and less videos... so... I don't think so :)

[@karlricardo4088]

*Tokoloshe

[@MamaKatt]

Why are all the African myths full of monsters? Where are the heroes and the demi gods?

[@basicstuffs6060]

gods do not live in lands

[@Daron7181]

There are but this video is about the creatures and monsters.

[@MamaKatt]

@@Daron7181 All of the creatures are scary as if there are no benign creatures that arent out to harm humans. They are able to find them else where why not here?

[@MamaKatt]

@@basicstuffs6060 Yes they do. And they visit them often.

[@RandomDropUp]

Ive heard that clean water and food is also african folklore.

[@My-planet-earth123]

Is that necessary 😧