The lightning bird or impundulu or thekwane (or izulu,[1] inyoni yezulu[2]) is a creature in the folklore of the Zulu people.

In one instance a village girl described a black rooster-like bird that ran up her hoe and left claw marks on her body before it flew back to the clouds.

Legend recounts that the bird is passed down in a witch's family from mother to daughter, doing the bidding of its owner, and the impundulu has only one known weakness.

The lightning bird is impervious to gunshots or stabbing, it cannot be poisoned or drowned, but it is said that the creature can be destroyed by fire.

An impundulu serves as a major antagonist in the Dark Star trilogy by Marlon James and appears in two books: Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King.

In 2005, a South African man was convicted of culpable homicide after killing a two-year-old child he believed to be an impundulu.