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fortlist.227
From: pbs@iaccess.za (Jan Lamprecht)
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 01:37:12 +0100
Subject: The Giant Flying snake of Namibia....

>I saw a rather amazing documentary on TV tonight, which I thought was right
up the alley of other crazy Fortean types.
>
>This is the first time I've ever heard of the Giant Flying snake of
Namibia. The documentary is of very recent origin. In the area of Namibia
around Keetmanshoop there have been on going sightings going back many
decades of a flying snake. The people who've seen this creature are many and
varied. Many are blacks, or coloured people or bushmen or white people. Most
are quite old. There have been sightings as recent as 1982. Some people have
even seen the creature more than once. One bushman had seen it twice in his
life time. He once he saw a brown creature with spots and the other time a
yellowish coloured one.
>
>As I listened to the descriptions, there were some interesting things about
the animal: It is like a chameleon in that it changes it's colour to match
its surroundings. Quite amazing is that it has what appears to be a
florescent/"glow-worm" type spot on it's forehead and it stands out at
night. One sighting by a local sounded almost like a UFO type sighting of
seeing a light flying among the mountains, but he assumed it to be the giant
snake. However ALL the other sightings were in broad daylight and even there
the spot is somewhat conspicuous - though nothing like what it is at night.
The creature described is a long snake-like/lizard-like creature between 10
- - 15 ft in length. It is approximately 1 ft in diameter, with a large head.
>
>It lives in a clearly defined region which is best described as mountainous
desert. It lives in various caves and at different times people have known
its whereabouts. Due to the temperature extremes however the rocks crack and
break and sometimes cover up cave entrances - so the creature either dies
inside (?) or must have moved elsewhere. The locals say that the creature is
not as common now as it was long ago, but it is still seen from time to
time. They also fear it as they say it is dangerous.
>
>The single most impressive sighting occurred about 40-50 years ago shortly
after the discovery of the Coelocanth off the coast of SA. What amazed me
even more was that the lady involved in that discovery, Dr Latimer, was
called in to investigate a sighting of the "snake" (it sounds more like a
flying lizard to me from the various descriptions - as it does not crush the
grass like a snake, it moves above it). She was called to investigate a
"close encounter" where a 15 year old white boy had been "attacked" by the
"snake". The boy's father was a farmer, and for some reason they were losing
sheep. (Is it carnivorous? The Komodo dragon eats goats I think). The father
assigned his son the task of looking after a special herd of sheep. The
sheep were grazing near the vicinity of a large rocky hill. The boy saw this
creature on 3 different occassions. The creature was in a crevice near the
top of the hill. It looked like a large lizard, but he didn't realise
exactly how large it was. It seemed to live in a cave on this hill. At one
point he threw a stone at it and struck it on the head (he must have climbed
the hill because it is very high). This must have angered the animal. Some
time later when he saw it again, he looked away and you can imagine his
surprise to find the creature had somehow transported itself from the top of
this very large hill and was standing right next to him (a distance of about
1/2 mile to 1 mile perhaps). The creature took its large tail and struck him
a blow to the chest. Then it flew away. BTW, it definitely DOES seem to be
able to fly and not just glide. Another guy saw it fly down from a hill,
land and fly back up again. He said he knows it sounds crazy to say that a
"snake" can fly, but he saw it doing just that. What is fascinating is that
when Dr Latimer arrived, she photographed and studied the area. She could
see indications of a large scaly creature which had swished it's tail in the
area - and photos of this were shown. She was certain it was a reptile of
some sort. In the photo you can see it was quite a large area where it had
swished it's tail and disturbed the sand/rocks/grass. The town's people
flocked to the top of the hill where footprints and marks left by the
creature were seen. Some time later they suspected they'd cornered the
creature in a cave and the Police came and dynamited the cave. They say they
heard it making noises and they think it was killed in the explosion which
caused the cave to be sealed off with the ensuing rock fall - how sad. Sadly
no one seems to have tried digging open the cave to see if there's a
skeleton inside. They know where this cave is that was that was dynamited.
>
>All those who've seen it say that it makes a noise, a sort of whistling
noise. Those who dynamited the cave heard a similar noise.
>
>The area is very remote and the population density of Namibia is very low.
There are HUGE areas of desert and mountains and it is a very large area to
search.
>
>The descriptions given by the various people were fascinating and very
detailed. Some say it even has 2 horns on it's head. It is quite a large
animal, definitely 20-30 cm in diameter. It has wings. In some ways when I
saw drawings of the creature it made me wonder if the creature's aerodynamic
features employed some sort of "lifting body" concept.
>
>The boy who was attacked (who's now a very old man) and Dr Latimer were
both interviewed.
>
>I wonder if some sort of infra-red equipment won't perhaps be the ideal way
to find such a creature at night, especially in a desert region where there
are large distances and little life giving off heat at night?
>
>In the documentary it mentioned that the Komodo Dragon had only been
discovered in 1910 - and people had been skeptical about it before it's
discovery. Also that large bovine which was recently discovered in Vietnam -
the most important animal find in 50 years. NB: The creature had lived in a
densely populated area and it took a lot of effort to find it. They also
mentioned a type of sea creature with glowing eyes, and the process which
actually caused such a thing (one often hears reports of creatures with
glowing eyes).
>
>The ongoing reports seem to indicate that there are still a number of these
creatures still alive. Of course an evolutionist immediately said that you
can't have a "flying snake" because of the tendency for snakes not to have
limbs therefore they can't have wings! Believe what you will. They've been
wrong before. They said Coelocanths WALKED on their fins (wrong),
Coelocanths were extinct (wrong). And so forth.
>
>I was intrigued by the "Jurassic Bark" article in Fortean Times Issue 79
about the Botanist in Australia who recently discovered a tree which was
still around which scientists said had been extinct for millions of years,
as well as the Redwood tree which had been thought to be extinct. All we
haven't found yet are some living dinosaurs!
>
>The other possibility is that what we have is not a Flying lizard but a
Levitating Snake - which truly boggles the mind even more! If snakes can fly
then sure as hell Pigs must too! Any reports of Flying Pigs being chased by
Flying Snakes?
>
>BTW, has anyone heard of this BEFORE? It was a first for me.
>
>
>
>
Cheers,
Jan--

*I never shot a man who didn't deserve it! (Hardin - US Outlaw)
*Men everywhere rattle their chains to show that they are FREE
*A Fool can ask more questions than a Wise man can answer
*You can lead a man to education, but you can't make him think!
*Those who beat their swords into ploughshares will be doing the ploughing
for those who don't