EXPRESS & ECHO (Devon, UK) 09 June 06 Intrepid Adventurers on Trail of an African People-Eating Lizard
X marks the spot for a six-strong team of Devon explorers who set out for Africa next month in search of a monster.
They will also be hoping to finally meet up with the dreaded people-eating ninka-nanka lizard.
But first, in true Indiana Jones style, the brave band will be pouring over an old map that they hope will lead them to fortune and glory.
For Westerners it all began back in 1983 when amateur naturalist Owen Burnham discovered the fresh carcass of a strange beast on a remote beach in The Gambia.
It was around 15ft long and looked like a cross between a crocodile and a dolphin.
Realising that it was something unknown to science, Owen, a missionary's son, made detailed sketches of the creature.
He and his family then buried it in the hot sand above the tide line, hoping that the dry sand would preserve the body.
He also made a detailed map - a copy of which the intrepid members of the Devon-based Centre for Fortean Zoology discovered in their research and will be using in their hunt.
"It does sound like something out of a pirate film but it is in quite good detail and there is an X marking the spot," said team member Richard Freeman.
"I think we should be able to find it and either way when we dig we should be able to solve the mystery one way or another."
But their search will not end there.
The team, the world's only full-time monster hunters, will also use their stay to chase down reports of a 30ft killer dragon lurking in the west African swamps.
Known locally as ninki-nanka, the beast is said to lurk in deep riverbank holes and emerge into the swamps at night.
As recently as the early 1990s, it is alleged to have killed people.
Mr Freeman said he thought ninki-nanka might be a giant, semi- aquatic monitor lizard.
Related to the infamous Komodo dragon, which is found in Indonesia, the African reptile would be three times as long, making it as big as a very large crocodile.
The team hopes to interview witnesses and venture into the deep mangrove swamps on the trail of the beast.
Previous adventures have seen the Forteans hunt for the naga, a 60ft snake in Thailand; the chupacabra, a blood-sucking beast from Mexico; orang-pendek, a Sumatran ape man; and the Mongolian deathworm.
The other members of the Fortean team are Chris Moiser, biologist and team leader; Dr Chris Clark, engineer; Lisa Dowley, first aid and security expert; Oll Lewis, ecologist and Suzi Marsh, computer expert.
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