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Lake Tele – Likouala, Republic of the Congo

Located amidst one of the least explored areas in the world, Lake Tele is rumored to be home to the Mokèlé-mbèmbé, a Brontosaurus-like creature that is the Congo’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster.

Due to the dense tropical swampland surrounding the lake, the area is extremely hard to survey. Hostile natives, dangerous animals and insects, and impassible terrain are just some of the obstacles explorers of the area face. However there is rumored to be a secretive beast lurking in the dense swamp. For hundreds of years, reports of a mysterious cryptid resembling a long-necked dinosaur have trickled out of the area, being briefly spotted by explorers or described by the native tribes, and it widely believed to live in Lake Tele. 

As with most cryptids, there has been no verifiable evidence of the beast, but the reports are so widespread and exist over such a long period of time that the creature has grabbed the imagination of cryptozoologists across the globe. Most thinking on the subject, no matter how unbelievable, says that Mokèlé-mbèmbé is likely a prehistoric survivor of some sort. It is thought to use Lake Tele as a hiding place as well as the unnavigable swamps surrounding it. There is even tell of some local pygmies who killed and ate a Mokèlé-mbèmbé.   

While its unlikely that the Mokèlé-mbèmbé exists in the stagnant, landlocked waters of Lake Tele, but it has most certainly made its home in the minds of believers everywhere.

Visit Lake Tele on Atlas Obscura…