If you thought mermaids were meant to be nice, forget it. These lot use every trick in the book to add to their body count. According to legend, the creatures make people believe they have whatever their heart desires. Pale skin, long black hair, and red eyes are listed as the mermaids’ features (oh yes, there’s more than one).
As with all myths, the origin of the Karoo Mermaid is open to both interpretation and embellishment. Just over 250 million years ago, the Klein Karoo was not the desert that it is today - but rather a world that existed under the sea. Receding waters left us with the Cango Caves and the legend of a Mermaid. Is she a remnant of this bygone aquatic era left behind to remind us of another time?
In 1875, a farmer named Mr D Ballot from Molensrivier recorded a story told to him by an elderly bushman. This bushman spoke of spirits that lived under the water at Eseljagtspoort near Oudtshoorn and took the form of women or animals and were believed to grab anyone who passed by and drown them in the watery abyss. Is the Karoo Mermaid a figment of African folklore that still survives into the 21st Century?
Two centuries after the first discovery of the Cango Caves, a flood desecrated the Klein Karoo area. In a few traumatic days in 1996, everything from cattle to crocodiles were flushed out the desert and sent back to the Indian Ocean. Is this elusive Mermaid a flood victim left stranded in the desert once the waters ran dry?
The mythical creature is thought to occupy the pools of the Buffelsjag in the Karoo waters. It’s a belief strongly held by many locals, who point to a number of unmarked grave in the areas as proof that victims are being lured to a watery death.
Have you seen a Mermaid? Do you believe they exist? Let us know in the comment section below.
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