The Wobo
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 9th, 2008
The French cryptozoologist Michel Raynal shares a literary re-discovery of the Wobo.
Raynal writes that “in Bernard Heuvelmans’ book (published after his death), Les Felins Encore Inconnus D’Afrique, Heuvelmans mentions the Wobo, a mysterious cat from Africa.”
Raynal continues, “Only recently, I realized that the famous Polish novellist Henryk Sienkiewicz (known worldwidely as the author of Quo Vadis) spoke at greater length of the Wobo in another of his books, translated into English as In Desert and Wilderness (1912).
The plot of the book is summarized thusly:
It is the story of two kids, Staś Tarkowski and Nel Rawlinson, kidnapped by the rebels during Mahdi’s rebellion in Sudan….
Staś and Nel live in Port Said, where their parents are engineers working on the Suez Canal. In the meantime, an anti-British rebellion begins in Sudan under Muhammad Ahmad. Staś and Nel are captured as hostages, but eventually they escape from the captivity. Helped by some African natives they are eventually rescued by a British expedition and return to their family.
Although the novel is fictional (apart from the historical events), it was inspired by real events. A Polish boy was indeed kidnapped at those times, but has never been found. An inspiration for Nel’s character was the daughter of Sienkiewicz’s friend.
What is a Wobo?
The Wobo (Ethiopia, Africa) is described as being larger than a lion, yellowish-brown or grey-brown in colour and having black stripes. A Wobo pelt had apparently been displayed in the principal cathedral of Eifag. It is speculated that the pelt was actually that of an Asian tiger that had ended up in Ethiopia with a settler and perhaps been used as trade goods. The Abu Sotan (Sudan, Africa) is said to inhabit rocky mountains near the River Rahad. It is described as being marked with great black blotches or stripes. Sudan and Ethiopia are neighbouring countries, so perhaps a race of unusual big cats lives in the area. as per Karl Shuker in his Mystery Cats of the World
The novel, In Desert and Wilderness, Raynal points out, is now available (completely) for download from archive.org here. At the link, you should choose the PDF format, then search for “Wobo” in the research engine of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
As Michel Raynal notes, this is a newly discovered “literary contribution to cryptozoology.”
- Similar Phenomena:
Given the “margin of error” that can turn up in early reports of an animal (ie fierce, murderous gorillas etc) could it be a King Cheetah? The reports fit except for the size. Any word on where this might have gone after the cathedral?
Anybody have an idea what the stripe pattern looks like?
oh i love these cat news.
this is so awesome. 
smilodon is on his/her way.
(sigh) little do we know of this cat family.