The Mountain That Swallows People: Nyangani National Park Disappearances

[Music] hey adam here and welcome back in zimbabwe there is a mountain called mount niangani which the natives knew as the mountain that swallows people it's difficult to ascertain exactly when the locals start using this term but the reason is very clear people have been disappearing without a trace on the mountain for a long time we'll never know exactly how many people have disappeared there but sites like this normally get their name for a good reason the natives describe common situations on the mountain that is to put it simply many people who choose to travel up the mountain never came back down and when they began to search for the missing they couldn't find a trace of them no clothing equipment or any clues as to what might have happened to them this is something that has been witnessed in more recent times too as we'll get into for now though let's zoom into the area right let's start with this in which am lamber a person who works near the mountain spoke with news there vanishing on this mountain is neither myth nor a legend there is a long-held belief by the manika people living around that area that says a vindictive spiritual presence on the mountain is responsible for the disappearances between 1984 and 1985 i had the opportunity of discussing the mysteries surrounding mountainy angani when i was an information officer for matar district everyone i spoke to said mountainy angani had to be approached with great caution mountain climbers were urged to seek permission from elders living around the area before venturing into the deep thickets a senior government official in the early 1980s said he once got lost on the mountain for nearly four days when he was a young man but when he was eventually found it was as if he had been missing for just a few hours he said that he was not hungry nor did he show any signs of fatigue or dehydration all these cases seem to point to the fact that these people would have wandered off in different directions and got captured by the invisible inhabitants of the mountain so as you can see there are thoughts and opinions about the mountain that strains to the more unusual side of things as often comes up the last two videos i've made were on the hidden people and i swear this video wasn't supposed to be about that that was just an absolute coincidence that they were talking about invisible people and i suppose it's just another example of that legend of o'clock if you've watched my previous video i did mention in that video that you've got to decide how much salt you're going to take it with but if you are interested in hearing more about it i'll leave a link to that video in the top right now if you want to open a new tab anyway we're going to start with the disappearance that occurred in 2014. 31 year old zed data went missing on mountain niangani on the 4th of january 2014. he his wife and his parents-in-law were tourists and on holiday in zimbabwe the press repeatedly stated that they were of asian origin and i later found out that they were from india in any case while on this holiday zid and his wife were excited to hike and ascend the mountain and it looks to have been one of their holiday goals so while they were there they met another couple who would plan to climb the mountain too and they all got along so they thought they'd do it together it seems as though this hike isn't the easiest or might be quite intensive on the body here's the first official press report that i could find on the incident and this was from the nahanda radio four days after the initial disappearance zade his wife and another couple tried to climb mountainy and ghani but when halfway up the women and the other man gave up while zaid proceeded by himself manikaland provincial police spokesperson inspector enoch shishiri confirmed the developments and said the helicopter that was dispatched to assist in the search was forced to land after heavy winds disrupted the search efforts zimbabwe parks and wildlife management's authority spokesperson caroline washing moyer said more than 60 people including rangers and relatives of the missing were involved in the search the search teams were open to find some evidence as to which directions ed might have travelled but unfortunately no clues were presenting themselves as to where he might have gone or what might have happened when nothing was turning up the search effort turned to the air force for assistance and the air force dispatched four soldiers from the one commando regiment now there was an accusation of corruption among the local authorities it's difficult to understand what the truth might be here because you end up with a he said she said type of situation however a source who declined identification had told nahando radio that zed's friends and family had come from all over the place to help find him from australia south africa botswana and britain this person had said that chief sanyama had demanded twenty one thousand dollars to help fans it one thousand up front to assist and then twenty thousand once he had been located i can only hope it's not true but this is what was reported sunyama did defend himself and said when one is lost we assume that he would have done something wrong which he has been punished for traditionally we consult mediums who said he is still alive people take advantage to put my name into disputes i delegated people to assist his relatives and there is no direct contact with them we have to handle the issue with care because it is a tourist resort okay so that escalated and got weird quickly there reading in between the lands when the chief said done something wrong i think he was referring to something more spiritual than physical at first i thought he meant got into an altercation with someone or something like that but i think he's referring to the more unusual side of things since he had mediums involved right from the get-go as well there's not a lot i could say in regards to the validity of the accusation but family members did later deny that this had happened and said that the chief had played an instrumental role so let's hope nothing shady had happened here behind the scenes and that was the truth in any case from what i can gather zid was actually in really good shape and this is what allowed him to continue where the other three could not i also believe that zed had quite a lot of experience in these types of harsh wilderness areas now this is from the nahanda radio again but in a separate article zade's uncle azar khan spoke with sw radio africa and told them this it was family members who started to liaise with local chiefs who alerted us to the notorious behavioral aspects of the mountain the mists and traditional beliefs that surround the area and how people have gone missing previously it's considered a bit like the bermuda area in terms of oddness and we've been searching ever since so far the only glimmer of hope according to khan has come in the shape of a witness who claims to have seen zed and has provided the search parties with coordinates to where he might be khan meanwhile added that the family has needed to be mindful of the traditional spiritual side of the search so it's absolutely clear that the locals and those in charge believe that something completely out of the ordinary had taken place yet and it seems as though the chief had people on the mountain performing rituals alongside the search effort this was reported by the bulawaya 24. in an interview in nianga on wednesday district administrator mr david tiatsya said representatives of chief tanguina were leading the team and had since performed traditional rituals together with other community leaders to appease the spirits of the sacred mountain david said this has happened before and we believe zed's disappearance has got something to do with the myths surrounding the sacred mountain we are however hopeful that he will come out alive and kicking at this point it had been six days since zeid went missing and i can only assume that the reason this direction started to be heavily leaned in was because despite having searches all over the area he disappeared from and fanning out over a larger area they couldn't find a single clue as to what might have happened there is a very unfortunate side to this mountain too that is that the weather seems to change on a dam without warning this is something that had been repeatedly affecting the search effort some of the searches were saying that they were constantly being hampered by thick mists and heavy rains descending on the area which would clear up only to come back again what is quite touching though is that after the new spread around zimbabwe locals from all over the place came to help police officers too and soldiers descended on the mountain as well the family understandably while respecting the beliefs and traditions of the locals more so seemed to further the idea that xed had simply become lost on the mountain this was said by zed's brother ryaz and reported by the bulawaya 24. we know zed is somewhere out there he is lost and probably exhausted and injured we need to find him and bring him home as soon as we can we are begging for anyone who can help us to please come forward twelve days after the initial disappearance anais beppe the niangan national park's area manager also seemed to try and rain things back in a bit offering this current assumptions are that because of the fast weather changes that can switch from sunny skies to thick fog he could have slipped and fallen into the cliffs or ridges of the mountain although right after he did also say that through folklore or traditional beliefs after the fog rolls in one shouldn't make any remarks of exclamations while hiking on the mountain i imagine he means not to say anything disrespectful or to swear while on the mountain that kind of folklore actually comes up all over the place around the world in regards to forests and mountains and things like this it also actually came up in my previous video on the hidden people so do give that a watch if you want to 18 days now after the initial disappearance the authority stated that the search had temporarily been called off to allow the traditional leaders to carry out rituals to appease whatever it was they thought had happened on the mountain again it just shows that those involved believe that this was a very real and significant possibility likelihood even that they were exploring it was reported that they'd searched approximately 80 percent of the mountain and the remaining twenty percent was basically on the opposite side from which they disappeared and they didn't believe that there was any real possibility that he could have circled the entire mountain like that a search spokesman said we were advised to stop the search and to hand this over to the local chiefs and local authority we had covered 80 of the mountain so we needed the help of local chiefs so we have handed the search to them and we are confident that something positive will materialize the family agreed with traditional leaders to proceed culturally the day afterwards saw the 19th day of this ordeal this further information was reported by the press spirit mediums who were consulted after the disappearance said dada was still alive but with 18 days having passed since the disappearance time is no longer on his side as hunger and elements of the weather may diminish his chances of survival after ascending he never came back nyangani is zimbabwe's highest mountain standing at 2592 metres and includes awe among locals who believe that resident spirits can make people who provoke their wrath disappear in its cliffs and galleys besides for the mountain being a tourist attraction it continues to be a dangerous and a sacred mountain it is believed that among the do's and don'ts hikers and tourists should not be foul-mouthed engaged in the beds and the bees relieving themselves and should be cautious on dangerous steep edges this is because they may push you off david satsire said that in more recent times three people have disappeared mysteriously on the mountain it is now a national case and although there are other untold stories of locals who disappeared on the mountain but were later found or appeared back alive after weeks months or years people from here know everything about this mountain and they hardly climb it it is sacred said one villager who spoke on the condition of anonymity to further exacerbate the situation bad weather conditions have hampered efforts to search for the missing man as there has been heavy rainfall and missed in the area since his disappearance that was pretty abruptly the final press report on the incident until the anniversary of the disappearance came up a whole year after it happened which just regurgitated everything we've spoken about so far so it appears that zed was never found and not only was he never found but they never found anything to indicate anything they found no evidence of a struggle or of some sort of animal attack nor did they find any items belonging to zade zade's disappearance actually sparked a change of rules regarding visiting various wilderness areas this is what was reported by the zimbabwe situation dot com national parks now require hikers to climb with a professional ranger or guide for a fee of five dollars an hour cell phones must be fully charged before setting out those that aren't don't get to go and hikers must carry a torch with spare batteries cell phone and radio towers are being put up at the top with boosters at strategic points elsewhere policing that sounds like it might be a bit difficult but in any case the history and disappearances on the mountain don't begin or end with zid in 1981 titchen deputy messiah was a cabinet minister and his twin daughters disappeared on the mountain the school had taken the class on a trip to mount niangani and it was on this trip that the twins disappeared though similar to zeid not only were they never found but no clues or evidence was ever uncovered at all i'm sure that you can imagine because of titchen depp's position the search was very extensive and included many helicopters as well as hundreds of people unfortunately it's difficult coming across press reports of the incident but from what i can gather there was a pretty big deal made about this at the time the tribal leaders in the area tried to intervene and they told the authorities that they believed that the girls were still alive but certain rituals had to be performed in order to bring them back teaching depuy and the family weren't having any of it and basically thought that these people were full of rubbish and decided to go all in on the more traditional search effort if you like and i can't find an actual tab for him but it is said that this went on for quite some time and despite 40 years passing nothing was ever found and this is something that was commented on actually in zeid's disappearance those in the area have made the point that they would have expected clothes or equipment to be found by now though of course if you spoke to the tribal leaders i'm sure they tell you it's because they're not actually there anymore but are being held somewhere else not long after this disappearance there was a german tourist who went missing near the mountain there are very few details about this but apparently this taurus was found four days after he disappeared and was said to be confused and said that he didn't remember much about his ordeal though i suppose shock could do that to you around five years after the twins disappeared an eight-year-old boy called robert arkest also disappeared on the mountain unfortunately again because it was so long ago the specifics of this one are also far and few between but like the others no trace of robert was ever found similar to the twins he was on a school trip and had reportedly wandered away without anyone noticing you've got to be careful with how you talk about this on youtube but it is said that the teacher in charge blamed himself and was so distraught with himself that a year on from the incident he decided that he couldn't go on anymore and well uh you know he wasn't with us anymore after he made that decision there's another incident spoken about on mount niangani but i can't confirm it though i have seen people from zimbabwe discussing it so they are of course going to know more than i do but they spoke of a senior government official who was hiking on the mountain with his two friends in the late 80s at some point during this hike the three of them had disappeared and there was a search effort that lasted for around four days on the fourth day they were found all three of them were said to be in a confused state and didn't understand what all the fuss was about they didn't believe they'd been on the mountain for as long as had been described to them but did say that they'd lost their way and were wandering aimlessly apparently they only thought that they'd been on the mountain for a matter of hours rather than dares all three of them were said not to be suffering from dehydration and when tired or hungry they also said that they'd seen the searches on the mountain near them but for some reason they weren't able to get their attention and thought they were being ignored for some reason again apparently in this instance some rituals had taken place or something like that and the locals believed that is what allowed these men to return the locals believe that if you do something wrong on the mountain and whatever force it is that they're referring to chooses you they will make you lost and keep you in an unfamiliar place which actually sounds quite familiar if you've seen my last few videos in any case there was another strange incident on the mountain involving a british student called thomas gaisford thomas was 20 years old and was a second year human science student who chose to travel to zimbabwe after winning the wallace watson award which basically encourages the graduates to take expeditions to places that are of a challenging nature thomas chose mount niangani thinking this would be the challenge he was looking for but he may have beaten off slightly more than he could chew when he arrived he met the locals settled in and told them of his plans interestingly he said that they'd spoken to him about the weirdness of the mountain and told him of the prior incidents including zid specifically they also told him that if he saw anything of the ordinary he was to ignore it and get away immediately so they mentioned things like being lured to an area by something like seeing gold bright sticks or things that look expensive or just out of place they said that if he saw animals behaving strangely that he was to ignore it and there's actually more on that thomas was never actually reported missing though he did get lost and when he came down later than expected he had some unusual things to say so he started to climb the mountain and at 3 pm he'd gotten quite high but said that without warning he was completely engulfed in a heavy fog he said that it was odd and that he hadn't seen it coming from a distance but rather it came on suddenly and he became highly disoriented he described it as a mickey soup realizing he was becoming lost he stopped what he was doing and pitched his tent as quickly as he could hoping to wait out the weather it turns out this was a great call because very quickly afterwards he was hit by heavy rains that pummeled his tent now as said it's probably a good thing he was in the tent because i'm no expert but it seems as though there are some obvious health and safety issues with being on a now slippery mountain lost disoriented engulfed in thick fog while the loud rain makes everything worse this is thomas's description i climbed to the summit of the mountain it was very difficult but i endured up to the top i was caught in a mist as soon as i reached there i started getting uncomfortable and scared after heavy rains started falling the fog engulfed the whole place i was and surprisingly it was in the afternoon around 3 p.m i could not see anything i was confused i lost my way down and pitched the tent this sudden weather persisted for hours and he was forced to spend the night on the mountain which he hadn't planned to do nor did he really want to do especially after hearing what the locals had to say about the area his story gets a little bit odd now he said i prayed and slept there for 10 hours several scary snakes approached me i never disturbed them they came in numbers but i stood still various animals frequented the place and i could see shining red eyes of several animals staring at me my character was tested i remained steadfast i woke up the following morning after the fog had cleared i climbed down before i proceeded to leopard rock on foot now i'm sure you can imagine what the locals were thinking popular opinion seemed to be that thomas had been very lucky here and had he not set his tent up and ignored his visitors the way he did he would have gone missing that night from what i can gather it looks like the locals believed that he'd been chosen but had managed to pass the test by staying steadfast now i suppose you could say more traditionally that sudden fog coupled with heavy rains are generally an easy way to get lost which is certainly something that could have happened to zid though it's been a long time and it is surprising that nothing has ever been found thomas reflected on his ordeal and said i have heard lots of strange stories about the mountain but i never believed them i tried to put that at the back of my mind i never consulted traditional leaders before i embarked on the expedition but i later realized that i should have done that i am happy to be alive there is more to experience i have learned a lot about zimbabwe and myself i mean i certainly think that if you ever find yourself in a situation like this where you accidentally find out that there's a whole backstory of weird folklore about the place you're about to explore even if you think it's a load of rubbish it can't hit to talk to the locals because you'll probably come away with some good survivalist advice anywhere so we've heard about different types of incidents so far but sometimes they are particularly bad and this next incident highlights how lethal the sudden weather changes can be on the 10th of april 2020 35 year old shingari matsuri took his eight-year-old twin boys and his nephew who was seven on a mission to recover their stray cattle it wasn't made clear how the cattle got loose in the first place but unfortunately the cattle had headed in the direction of mount niangani and then proceeded to ascend somewhat shingiri thought that this was going to be a simple trip to collect the kettle but things took a rather sudden and dark turn while they were on the mountain similar to what had happened to thomas the weather suddenly and without warning took a bad turn while we were on the mountain there was a hail storm and we tried to go down but we couldn't go far because it suddenly became misty and we could not see anything so we waited for the mist to clear so that we could go back home we could not move until the next morning but by then the children could not walk due to the cold so i had to go and look for help leaving them there since i could not carry them on my own so what looks to have happened here is that all of them including shingiri himself had began to suffer from hypothermia and they all became very weak shingiri struggled to get down the mountain and quickly called out to the locals and they managed to get a search party together unfortunately he wasn't able to ascend the mountain again because he was too exhausted and they thought that he was going to slow the group down and potentially cause them another problem he gave them directions to the boy's location but sadly they were just there too late to serve them the group were able to bring the boys back down the mountain but one of the twins passed away upon arriving at the hospital and the other passed away the following morning from what i can gather the nephew thankfully survived it really does just go to show that things can change quickly and i would urge anyone who wants to visit these kinds of wilderness areas to just please going prepared incidents like this shouldn't be forgotten and do serve as a warning for others not to be complacent you know through this channel i've had the pleasure of talking to a lot of great people from all walks of life i've spoken to some search and rescuers some police officers and other people who just spend a lot of their time in the wilderness one of the guys i spoke to a while ago did say that complacency can be a pretty big problem in that you've got someone who's experienced who's done a certain route many times and even they can get taken by surprise sometimes it's a shame that these emergency gps devices tend to be quite expensive because it could be a good idea if the parks were able to learn them out to travelers or something like that that could actually prevent some of these disappearances from taking place anyway there's no other way to introduce this next part other than saying let's get bizarre while reading about these disappearances i came across people from zimbabwe talking and sharing experiences on the mountain one stated i climbed mountain niangani on my way up i saw a beautiful stream on my way down i did not see the same stream though i noticed other landmarks i saw on my way up i could not ask i was puzzled and i still am puzzled i will be climbing again when travels resume or in other words this person believed that the landscape seems to have changed on the way up and down the mountain these strange experiences also seem to occur in the surrounding areas of the mountain too there's a girl on youtube from the channel amanda and bonnell who is talking about the mountain and she was relaying a story about a dam in the area and how the workers believed that they were being harassed by mermaids i'm thinking right okay but to my surprise there is genuine news coverage on this from 2012. let's have a look essential work on reservoirs in zimbabwe has stopped because according to the country's water resource minister mermaids have been hounding workers aware samuel sipper nakoma told zimbabwean parliamentary committee that terrified workers are refusing to return to the sites near the towns of gurkh and matar minister nakoma said the only way to solve the problem was to brew traditional beer and carry out any rights to appease the spirits i just love that giving beer to the mermaids is the solution why not in all seriousness though newcomer was genuinely being told by the construction workers the officers in charge specifically that the workers had vowed not to go back because of what they were experiencing which is just bizarre the senior politician said that mermaids were also present in other reservoirs we even hired caucasian foreigners thinking that our boys did not want to work but they also returned saying they would not return to work there again from what i can gather it looks like nakomo thought that because the locals were all familiar with the tale and the area in general and all the folklore it might be that very reason that they believe that they were seeing these things it looks like he was quite surprised when people who weren't familiar with the culture also reported being harassed by whatever it was in the water this was genuinely causing quite a stare in the country too because these reservoirs are considered essential for the country to be able to provide adequate water supply to the population local government rural and urban development minister ignatius chomba said the government wants to give the population the water it needs but cannot do so until the rituals are performed and necessary repairs can be carried out i do believe that later these rituals were carried out and they were eventually able to get the repairs done in any case this topic might make for another interesting documentary style video so do let me know if you'd want me to have a deeper look at this right in any case i just found that quite interesting and thought i'd share it but with that i'm going to hand it over to you in the comments below what do you make of the mountain do you sad with the locals and the more unusual beliefs or do you think it's simply a case of bad weather do let me know also feel free to suggest any topic that you'd like me to cover in a more documentary style video and feel free to let me know if there's a specific disappearance that you'd like me to take a look at and add to the research list i've often found that some of my best videos are from suggestions and input from you guys so do let me know with all of that said i'd just like to thank you for watching and a special thank you to the patrons as well who make this channel possible if you found the video interesting then please do hit the like button and if not then feel free to give it a thumbs down i'm just looking for your honest opinion either way i hope that you've had a great day or evening depending on where you are i'll see you in the next one be safe guys peace

Channel: Top Mysteries

Views: 145,880

Keywords: The Mountain That Swallows People: Nyangani National Park Disappearances, mount nyangani disappearances, mount nyangani, nyangani national park, nyangani national park disappearances, zayd dada missing, unexplained disappearances, disappearances, zayd dada disappearance

Id: MAwd2KpSU_8

Length: 27min 37sec (1657 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021