Sandewan

In this article, we examine the mysterious Sandewan, a legendary creature that has captured the interest of both scientists and local hunters. In a letter to Dr. Karl Shuker, English zoologist Carina Norris describes intriguing bloodstains that may indicate the existence of this elusive animal. Although Zimbabwean guides claim the Sandewan is merely a myth, the bloodstains and the unexpected disappearance of the trail over a cliff raise many questions. Is it possible that the legends hold a grain of truth?

English zoologist Carina Norris writes in a letter to Dr. Karl Shuker:

Rumor has it that whoever captures a Sandewan and brings it to the king or chieftain will gain great wealth (though it's unclear whether the king rewards it with these riches). Sandewans leave bloody tracks. The track I saw was undoubtedly bloody: large spots, five to ten centimeters in diameter. I immediately thought of a running animal leaving a trail of blood [it could have been a leopard dragging its prey, like the one in the photo above]. It didn't look like the tracks of a wounded animal, struggling to move and marking its path with smeared blood. However, this doesn't mean that Sandewans don't leave such tracks; I haven't been able to determine that.

Judging by the amount of blood, I can judge it to be a fairly large animal. However, tracks are also visible under very low branches and in crevices where it couldn't have squeezed through. The trail led through mountainous terrain and ended abruptly at the edge of a cliff. Possible explanations included not blood but fruit juice (meaning the trail was left by a monkey that wasn't eating properly), or even bird droppings. None of them were convincing. The guide (a white Zimbabwean) who told me about Sandewana claimed it was a legendary creature, existing in the stories of black hunters. He had never heard of it being told by white people.

Even if Sandewan is just a legend, the trail the carina investigated actually existed. How did Sandewan disappear when he reached the cliff? Did he fly away? Perhaps he has wings, though the legend says nothing about them?