CHAPTER 8
ANCIENT GIANTS OF AFRICA
I don’t tell lies against anybody. That’s why I always win all my wars.
FELA KUTI
The Nomoli figures of Sierra Leone, West Africa, were discovered by European missionaries in 1852 after they had come across an abandoned village. These mysterious carved soapstone figures date as far back as 17,000 BCE and prove the existence of an advanced ancient civilization prior to those in current West Africa. One of the figures clearly represents the head of a reptilian being that is holding some kind of basket in his hands. And the giants are represented as well in one of the figures that showcases a large human riding on a full-grown elephant. The local African tribes where the figures were discovered have long oral traditions and ancient memories of the giants who once lived there. African legends describe these powerful beings as courageous and very strong men with shining eyes and with voices that could be heard from one town to another. A legend tells that
they wandered without let or hindrance to places where no man had ever been before. One could not look them in the face because their eyes were so bright that it hurt one’s own eyes to look at them. It was like looking at the sun.1
An interesting discovery was made when a small metal ball was found in a hollow space inside a Nomoli figurine. Analysis by the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria, revealed that it is made from chrome and steel. But the earliest-known production of steel is a piece of ironware unearthed in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehoyuk) about four thousand years ago. How is this possible? This giant civilization was highly advanced and equipped with the right tools for modeling perfectly spherical objects like those found inside the figures. Other African legends talk about heavenly creatures banned from the divine empire and sent to Earth, similar to the “fallen angels” mentioned by various cultures.
A perfectly formed giant’s footprint imprinted in granite was discovered in 1912 by a farmer called Stoffel Coetzee while hunting in what was called the Eastern Transvaal, South Africa. The four-foot-long footprint can be found in an outcrop of the Mpuluzi batholith, dated to around 3.1 billion years old. The giant that it belonged to would have been anywhere between twenty-three and twenty-five feet tall!
In 1936 two French archaeologists, Lebeuf and Griaule, led an expedition to Chad in North Central Africa. As they crossed the plains, they saw some areas covered with small mounds. Deciding to investigate, they dug up several egg-shaped funeral jars that contained the remains of a gigantic race, along with pieces of their jewelry and works of art.
These giants, according to the natives, were called the Saos. Scholars who traced their history say they came from Kheiber, located north of Mecca, to Bilma, which is situated about three hundred miles north of Lake Chad. A people with a “well-developed religion and culture,” they grew in numbers and founded communities at Fort Lamy, Mahaya, Midigue, and Goulfeil. They lived in peace in their new land until the close of the ninth century when the Moslems made wars against them, intending to force their acceptance of the Islamic faith. The Saos giants who converted to the faith lived to become servants of the Arabs. But those who steadfastly refused to convert were eventually wiped out. By the end of the sixteenth century not many Saos remained.2
In Timeless Earth, author Peter Kolosimo writes about the giant ax handles discovered by the French captain Lafanechere at Agadir in Morocco.
Discovered a complete arsenal of hunting weapons including five hundred double-edged axes weighing seventeen and a half pounds, i.e. twenty times as heavy as would be convenient for modern man. Apart from the question of weight, to handle the axe at all one would need to have hands of a size appropriate to a giant with a stature of at least 13 feet.3
Africa’s Watusi warriors are famous for their elaborate dances and great height. Globetrotting writer and historian Glenn D. Kittler describes the Watusi in his children’s book Let’s Travel in the Congo:
For the most colorful and exciting dancing, you must go to Ruanda-Urundi . . . east of the Congo. Here the ruling tribe is the Watusi, the tallest people in the world. It has been said that these giants are born six feet tall, and when you walk among them you can believe it. Men towering seven or eight feet are a common sight.4
Anthropologists can’t account for the excessive tallness of the Watusi. They are at a loss for words, just as Marco Polo was before writing about his meeting with the giants of Zanzibar in his famous journals. Marco Polo writes:
Zanzibar is situated off the coast of Tanganyika. Nearly 53 miles long and 24 miles wide, it is the largest coral island on the African coast. . . . Numerous bays, reefs, and islets are found along the western coast, while the eastern side is much more regular. Zanzibar is a very large and important island. It has a 2,000-mile coastline. All the people are idolaters, they have a king and a language of their own and pay tribute to no one. The men are large and fat, although they are not tall in proportion to their bulk. They are strong limbed and as hefty as giants. They are so strong that they can carry as many as four ordinary men. This is not altogether surprising because while they can carry as many as four men, they eat enough for five.5
Liongo was the mythical giant hero of the Swahili and Pokomo peoples of eastern Kenya (see fig. 8.1). Historians believe Liongo lived on the Kenyan coast as early as 1200 CE. A large section of Swahili poetry is inspired and dedicated to Liongo, including many popular wedding songs that are still performed today. Liongo would eventually become King of Ozi until the region’s first Islamic ruler, Sultan Ahmad, had him chained and imprisoned. But the giant Liongo escaped to the mainland, where he lived with the forest-dwelling Watwa, spending his time perfecting his archery techniques and preparing to fight off the Muslim invaders, unaware that his own son would be the one to deliver the fatal blow behind his back when he least expected it. His son, expecting to inherit his father’s kingdom, was soon killed by the outraged townsfolk who viewed Liongo as a leader and champion of the tribes. Hundreds of years after the giant warlord’s death his grave was visited by British archaeologist Bishop Steere who wrote:
The grave, as I saw it in 1912, was a slight elevation in the ground, which might once have been a barrow. It was roughly marked at the head and foot with rows of white stones, evidently remnants of a complete rectangle. The native overseer in charge of the plantation in which it was situated told me that he and the European superintendent had measured the grave some time before, and found its length from east to west to be “fourteen paces”—some twelve or fourteen yards, suggesting that Liongo might, indeed, have been a giant.6
Fig. 8.1. Liongo, Bethoven M. Tiano (2016)
Traces of African giants can also be found in the remote lands of down under where the dark-skinned tribes of the Aborigines speak openly about a mysterious lost race that once inhabited the globe. There has even been some new research suggesting aboriginal Australians and Pacific islanders share a small percentage of genetic material with an unknown ancient hominid. Could these mysterious DNA markings be related to the lost race of giants?