Mokele-Mbembe Expedition II Departs
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 2nd, 2009
Part II of the MQ Mokele-Mbembe Expedition has departed today.
Bill Gibbons wrote me before I left for London:
Rob Mullin and I will be off to Cameroon on Monday, March 2nd with a two-man film team from Whitewolf Productions, who are filming and producing some episodes of MonsterQuest for the History Channel. Jared Christie, the field producer, is an experienced traveler and outdoorsman….
We will all meet up in Zurich for the final leg to Cameroon (Yaounde). Our man Pierre Sima is again arranging all our travel, pygmy guides and the field itinerary, which will focus on river research and interviewing new eye-witnesses.
We will be exploring the Dja, Boumba and Nkogo Rivers, including areas of a swamp with a MonsterQuest team.
I’m taking 20 disposable cameras to give out to key people who know where and when to find the various cryptids that live there. We are hoping for clear photographic evidence of any mystery animal.
We will be gone from March 2nd to March 16th.
All results of the trip will be on an upcoming MQ program.
And the following, late breaking news from MonsterQuest’s producer, Will Yates:
A MonsterQuest expedition departs Monday for Cameroon, Africa, in search of the legendary Mokele Mbembe. The Mokèlé-mbèmbé, meaning “one who stops the flow of rivers” in Lingala dialect, is large water dwelling saurapod that has been reported by many witnesses and explorers in Congo and Cameroon since the late 1700s. This will be the first MonsterQuest expedition to the continent of Africa.
This fourteen day MonsterQuest expedition will be led by veteran explorer, Dr. Bill Gibbons. Dr. Gibbons currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
He holds a Ph.D. in General Science and is a tenured college professor. Dr. Gibbons has been visiting Africa since 1985 and his love for the African continent and fascination with the people and wildlife has made him a regular visitor to the Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. Dr. Gibbons will be joined by Rob Mullin, a fellow veteran explorer who is based in Colorado and has participated in a number of previous trips.
The team will travel to Dja River, with a number of prime locations to explore. They will be accompanied by a local guide and expert who is well versed in the Mokele Mbembe sightings and will lead the team to the most likely location to find this rare animal.
In addition, Dr. Gibbons stated that I will alert the pygmies to look out for other creatures of interest, such as the Yoli (a sort of snake-dragon), or an N’goubou (a hippo like horned animal that kills elephants), or a giant forest spider, or the man-ape the Dodu, says Gibbons. It would be good if we can come back with something!
Their plan is to traverse the river, exploring deep pools and caves which may be the likely habitat for the creature. The team will also interview and test recent eyewitnesses, explore the “crossing point” at the Dja/Kgoko/Boumba River and utilize specialized cameras at likely feeding points.
This episode also features an interview with renowned explorer and author of “A Living Dinosaur: In Search of Mokele Mbembe”, Dr Roy Mackal. The episode is set to air on History this summer. New episodes of MonsterQuest currently air on Wednesday nights at 9pm/8pm central on History.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Now we’re gettin’ somewhere! Good Luck, all!
I like the idea of distributing the 20 disposable cameras to the native people of the area. There are always so many reports and sightings in areas like this by people who do not have access to cameras, it is a very proactive way to challenge them to bring forth some evidence. I just hope it doesn’t lead to photographic hoaxes, everyone getting excited about photos that are later declared as fake, lol. But time will tell, definitely a good idea and a step in the right direction.
I’m stoked! We have reason to be very optimistic about this one: MQ has just gone up in my estimation, by using some credible for once.
Handing out disposable cameras to key locals is one of the best ideas I’ve heard. Send them out, they know what they’re doing.
Broadening this search to include the other cryptids (I’m esp. excited about the ngoubou! If it turns out to be a triceratops or related dino, I’m gonna flip!) is also wise.
My guess is that odds are good on this one, which is great, considering that this is my fave cryptid!
Keep us updated.
I’d be eager to see if they found anything, but I’m curious as to where to researchers have set the cameras. I had heard at one point or another, a claim that the local natives of the area suspected the cryptid of eating a particular kind of fruit, I don’t remember what and I don’t know how legitimate the claim is (sorry).
Yes! Finally, I’ve been waiting for Monster Quest to do an episode on the mokele mbembe for a while. Heres to hoping that they get photographic evidence of it.
Wish them the best of luck with the expedition!!! 🙂
WOW, so what if they find all the dinos or at least some? 🙂 That would make world news. 🙂
And Dinos will once again be known like when Jurassic Park came out.
Longnecks…amazing…large animals are discovered all the time …Good Luck…keep us posted…
I met Bill Gibbons, Rob Mullen, and the two cameramen the other day as they stopped by our camp with Pierre. They needed a tent for the expedition, so I loaned them my own. We had been down to the area of the expedition a week and a half earlier, so were able to give a good report about the roads. We have had some unseasonable rain lately, so Dr. Gibbons was a bit more encouraged that sighting may be possible. Small world. They will pass back through to return the tent in a couple of days. I can’t wait to hear the reports.