According to Lady Southorn, local residents were "dogged by fear of devils and chief among these is the Ninki Nanka... [If] seen by a man is a sure sign of approaching death."
The Ninki Nanka kept many lower Gambians away from fertile swamps, rivers, hills, and creeks, and the creature was often believed to inhabit swampy forests.
While there is no direct historical recollection of a drought or famine caused by these spirits, local sources believed that environmental catastrophes documented in written records might have been interpreted as the work of supernatural forces.
There is a song called "Ninki Nanka" on the album Casamance au clair de lune (1984) by the Senegalese music group Touré Kunda.
[citation needed] A group of "dragon hunters" from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) went to Gambia in the summer of 2006 to investigate the Ninki Nanka and take testimony from those who have claimed to have seen the mythical creature.