Where the Waters Don't Mix
In south-east Nigeria, a lake and a river meet, but their waters stay apart, side by side, two colours. Local belief says two goddesses rule them.
What was reported
Oguta Lake, in Imo State, is the largest natural lake in south-eastern Nigeria. Where the Urashi River flows into it, the two waters seem not to mix: the clearer water of one runs beside the darker water of the other, with a visible line between them.
In local belief, the lake is the home of the goddess Ogbuide, also called Uhammiri, a powerful water deity who brings wealth and children, and the river belongs to another spirit. The two are said to refuse to mix.
Explanations offered
Waters that meet without mixing for some distance are found in many places, because of differences in temperature, speed, density and the sediment they carry. Ogbuide is honoured in living traditions, and the novelist Flora Nwapa, from Oguta, wrote about her.
- When
- A living tradition
- Where
- Oguta Lake, Imo, Nigeria
- Witnesses
- The Oguta people
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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