By Mythologysleuth or Cyclone62
The mngwa (Swahili: "strange one") or nunda (Swahili: "fierce animal," "cruel man," or "something heavy") is a cryptid felid reported from Tanzania's coastal forests, described as a large, grey, man-eating cat with brindled stripes. Like its fellow East African maneater the Nandi bear, it caused a general hysteria in the regions it attacked, and was the quarry of several European hunts, all of which failed to catch it. The mngwa is said to be as big as the biggest lions, with greyish fur and brindled tabby-like stripes and markings. It is readily distinguished from the lion and the leopard by locals, and its tracks are said to resemble a leopards, but are the size of a lions. According to some eyewitnesses, it purrs instead of roaring. The nunda also appears in the traditional Swahili folktale "Sultan Majnun". In this tale, a cat belonging to the Sultan begins killing domestic animals and eventually people, including three of the Sultan's sons, before turning into a nunda. The fourth son hunts down the nunda, and (after killing a dog, two types of civet, a zebra, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, and an elephant) is led by his slaves to the animal, which is asleep under a tree. It is the size of a donkey, with brindled fur, huge claws, and enormous teeth.