Africa Archives

North of Burkina Faso there’s Dédougou, the capital of Mouhoun Province, and home of Festival International des Masques. Italian photographer Anthony Pappone attended and took a series of stunning photographs.

It is said that the person wearing a mask becomes the embodiment of the spirit shown by the mask. As they dance the chief can control the mask and the person inside enters a trance and looses control. This is an animist tradition, one where spirits are important, and the masks and dance are used to encourage rain.

Rappone kindly shared his photograph set, known as The Spirit of the Masks, on Behance. It’s well worth checking the entire album.

In Pure Spirit

Are you impressed by the mask creations on display?

Actual masks from Burkina Faso are incredibly rare but you can get some fantastic handmade masks from Etsy for a range of prices, even those with a spirit mask focus, and have them delivered to your home.

The goliath tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath) was thought by some to be a myth and by others to be extinct. Not any more. A 45kg tigerfish has been caught and caught for a British TV program called “River Monsters“. River Monsters is a TV program that examines myths of unknown creatures attacking people.

The Goliath tigerfish is a different species to the smaller and more common tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus).

Picture: ICON/BNPS.co.uk

In the show, the British fisherman who caught the fish, Jeremy Wade, said;

It is very rare to catch one, especially by an outsider because they are found in such a remote and difficult location to get to.

Wade was speaking from the Congo River in Africa where he caught the goliath tigerfish. The tigerfish is believed to be even more deadly thanthe piranha. It will attack humans as well as crocodiles.

It is a very dangerous fish to handle. If you aren’t careful it could easily take your finger off or worse.

Picture: ICON/BNPS.co.uk

The fish was returned to the river after Jeremy Wade posed for the cameras. For the photos he had to avoid the 32 teeth the fish sports; each one similar in size to that of a great white shark.

In Pure Spirit

Are you surprised that creatures like the tigerfish can still be found in the hard-to-reach parts of the planet?

Do you think encounters like this help to prove that there are creatures out there that science isn’t so sure about and which we should not discount?

Will you be watching the second series of River Monsters? If you’ve seen the show already please do tell us what you thought!

Do you think shows like River Monsters or even Paranormal Investigations: Live come under too much pressure to find something on TV? Sometimes for live TV? Does this impact the quality of the TV show at all?

Amazing photographs from FESTIMA: Festival International des Masques

River Monsters: Nearly mythical Goliath tigerfish caught and filmed

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