The Mngwa, which means the strange one, is described as an overly aggressive, unknown, big cat roughly the size of a donkey reported to roam the East African countries of Tanzania and Kenya...
It has creepy yellow eyes, sharp deadly teeth and huge razor like claws.Its fur is a dark grey with black stripes and spots, similar to a nowadays domesticated tabby cat.
Its body is said to sport some hairless spots from victims clutching and ripping patches as they attempted to free themselves.
The natives of the area have known of the Mngwa for centuries but it wasn’t until the 1900’s that the English first became away of this powerful creature sometimes referred to as the great grey ghost.,,
In the 1930’s and 1940’s the Mngwa was commonly referred to by the name of Nunda, but because of two books, written by Gardner Soule, The Mystery Monsters and The Maybe Monsters, along with the help of Bernard Heuvelmans, the name Mngwa is now more frequently used...
Thirdly, and perhaps most intriguing of all, is the identity put forward by veteran cryptozoologist Dr Bernard Heuvelmans. He has suggested that the nunda may be an undiscovered giant version of the African golden cat Profelis auratus...
The Mngwa was first mentioned in a Swahili song from the year 1150 which also mentions the Lion (Simba) the Leopard (Nsui) and the Mngwa as three different creatures proof that there is no confusion in the minds of the natives when it comes to the three creatures.
The Nunda, Eater of People is one of the Swahili fairy tales collected by Edward Steere in his 1870 anthology Swahili Tales, as told by the natives of Zanzibar. It is possible that this folktale was also the inspiration for the Nundu, a leopard-like magical creature mentioned in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels...
There is an old, traditional Tanzanian folktale that tells of the Sultan Majnun's youngest son who went seeking a murderous feline monster called the nunda, which had killed his three brothers and many other hapless humans too.
Evidently not the most zoologically-knowledgeable of people, he proceeded to kill several different animals, including a zebra, a rhinoceros, an elephant, a civet, and a giraffe, each time mistakenly assuming that this must be the nunda.
Eventually, however, he encountered the real nunda, lying asleep under the shade of a tree. As large as a donkey, with distinctive brindled fur, huge claws, and enormous teeth, it was a terrifying sight, but the Sultan's son slew it as it slept, and returned home in triumph, having rid his father's kingdom of this malevolent scourge...
Supportive resources:
Post ImagE: http://bit.ly/1t7KSwf