An intrepid Pudsey explorer who named a rare breed of frog after his girlfriend is planning a new mission - to find the South African version of the Yeti.

Martin Pickersgill says he is going to search for a demon monkey, known in folklore as a Tokoloshe, which is said to live in the highlands of South Africa.

And he is trying to raise funds to gather a team of people together to find evidence that the creature exists.

The idea comes only months after Mr Pickersgill returned from a death-defying 33,000-kilometre trek round Africa where he discovered nine new species of frog.

"This is my next challenge. There are so many myths and legends about this little creature and people living in the region are terrified of it," he said.

"Although there are no pictures, many people have seen it and say it's about 3ft tall, like a monkey but without a tail.

"Even now the locals living in that area board up their doors and windows at night to keep away the Tokoloshe. And many raise their beds off the floor on tins so it can't get to them."

Early African folklore describes the Tokoloshe as a mischievous goblin and it is also referred to as a bogey man, an evil spirit and a hairy monster.

"I heard stories about the Tokoloshe when I lived in South Africa as a child and it really fuelled my imagination," said Mr Pickersgill, 41.

"And there were a couple of times when I saw one myself but I was astounded because of all I'd heard about it.

"The myth says that it has the strength of ten men and if it sees you then it has to kill you.

"It seems to be one of these legends that has been around for hundreds of years and anything that can't be explained is blamed on this creature."

"But no anthropologists have ever actually looked for it. It will be like looking for the South African version of the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti.

"It's my ambition to prove that the Tokoloshe exists but it's something that I can't do on my own," he said.

"I'm confident that it's there and that we'll find it but I need help from anthropologists and people with specialist knowledge of primates.

"If we do find hard evidence then we will have discovered a new breed of primate and of course the ultimate would be to catch one of these things."

He added: "It's something that will take months and possibly years of planning but if we do find this creature then our names will be in the history books."

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