The mysterious Lake Fundudzi story

Africa is a mysterious country with many places not only poorly explored but also from ancient times frightening people with inexplicable phenomena occurring there. Not the least of these places is Lake Fundudzi, a place where the laws of physics do not work and the underwater monster python lives. And everything unexplored, of course, attracts people’s attention…

Here are some interesting facts about Lake Fundudzi, as well as unbelievable stories that happened near it.

The locals are afraid of these places and bypass the lake. Why? Yes, because the terrible stories associated with it have been passed down from generation to generation, and only huge crocodiles are not afraid of the curse of Lake Fundudzi and feel perfectly well in its waters…

The natives believe that in the depths of Fundudzi lives the terrible monster python, which either immediately devours a man who enters its domain or sends him imminent death. That is why they never bathe in the lake, though it is a valuable source of water, so rare in those places.

According to legend, a young man, suffering from unrequited love, decided to drown himself in the lake long ago. He jumped into the water, but instead of drowning, he turned into a snow-white python, and since then, people sacrificed him a young girl, though nowadays the aborigines are not so bloodthirsty – they pay tribute to the white Python, performing special dances in his honor and pouring into the water a heady drink.

In 1947, two desperate brothers (Hendrik and Jacobus) were found who decided to take a boat trip on the lake and thereby dispel the fears of the locals. Hendrik got in the boat, and Jacobus stayed on the shore. Everything was fine until the boat reached the middle of the lake, and then it literally froze in place, although Gendrik tried to row as hard as he could. And then the most terrible thing happened (according to Jacobus’ story): the water parted, the monster with its huge mouth opened, and its sharp teeth crawled out and swallowed Hendrik together with the boat…

But the lake itself, if you don’t take Python into account, has very strange properties. Phenomena occur in it that to this day cannot be explained by scientists.

First, experts cannot explain where the lake water goes. The fact is that many small rivers and streams flow into Fundudzi, as well as the full-flowing Mutwali River, but Fundudzi never floods. Perhaps some underwater outflow of water enters the lake at its depths. Let’s assume so.

Second, Lake Fundudzi constantly has tides, which is completely inexplicable in an enclosed body of water, and in this lake, the water level changes hourly and significantly, up to 1.5 meters.

Thirdly, it is not clear why the water in the lake is almost black.

Of course, more than once, there were skeptics who did not believe in the curse of Fundudzi, in the monster Python living in its depths, and who wanted to uncover the mysteries of the African lake. How did it end?

In 1953, a pair of scientists, Alan Ellis and Bill Clayton, arrived on the shores of Fundudzi. They decided to start unlocking the mysteries of the lake, not by exploring its depths but by studying the composition of the water. They filled bottles with it, corked them, and let them “stand”. After a while, the scientists were extremely surprised-the plugs were in place, but the water in the bottles was gone! What they saw so shocked and frightened the researchers that they decided to “fold” the expedition and leave.

Sometime later, another group came here – Professor Burnside and William Tucker. They, of course, knew about the incident with their predecessors but decided to check the “disappearance” of water themselves. They poured the containers with lake water, plugged them, and waited. In the morning, the men saw that the bottles were indeed empty…

Then Burnside decided to taste the water – it was rotten and sour. Several hours passed, and the professor felt bad – he felt nauseous and sick to his stomach. Burnside’s condition grew worse with each passing hour, so he was taken to the nearest hospital. On the way, the man lost consciousness and died. The examination showed that the cause of death was inflammation of the intestines.

An interesting fact. When the other members of the expedition began to take apart their backpacks, they saw that the previously empty bottles were again filled with dark lake water. Mysticism?

At the end of 1954, another very revealing story happened. A group of crocodile hunters gathered on the lake shore. They began aiming shots at the large animals, but the bullets seemed to bounce off the reptiles. After a while, one – the most enormous crocodile – crawled out of the mass of crocodiles and crawled toward the hunters.

It would seem that the men had to run away, but they, as if bewitched, stood by and watched its approach. The crocodile grabbed one of the hunters and dragged him into the water. Only then did the others regain their ability to move and run away…