Case file · Cryptid
Inkanyamba at Howick Falls
In 1962 a game ranger named Buthelezi reported a horse-headed, serpentine animal basking on a sandbank of the Umgeni River, which he took for the Inkanyamba.
1962 CE · -29.49, 30.24 · status: account
The account
In Zulu and Xhosa tradition the Inkanyamba is a great serpent of deep pools that rises with storms; it is said to live in the pool below Howick Falls and to fly to its partner at Midmar Dam. Further sightings were reported in 1974, 1981 and 1995, and people near Hogsback in the Eastern Cape linked a 1996 storm and 1998 tornadoes to it.
The sceptical view
Proposed explanations include Nile crocodiles, large eels and a tourism hoax. The storm stories are folklore about weather rather than animal sightings.