What is the kongamato?
The kongamato is a flying unidentified creature resembling a pterosaur, told of in the wetlands of Zambia and elsewhere in southern Africa. Its name is said to mean “overwhelmer of boats” in a local language, and it was feared for attacking and overturning small boats on rivers.
How the West learned of the kongamato
The kongamato became known in the West in the 1920s, when an Englishman then living in the region introduced it in a book. When he showed local people pictures of pterosaurs in a reference book, they reportedly answered, “This is the kongamato.” It was described as having featherless, bat-like wings and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
What is the kongamato really?
The leading theory is that sightings are the shoebill, a large bird of African wetlands, or large bats or herons mistaken for something else. Some suggest it is a surviving pterosaur, but no evidence has been found. Along with the ropen of the South Pacific, it is known as a leading pterosaur-type cryptid.
