Mephitis emanating from Lake Kuk in North-West Cameroon has caused panic among some of the local villagers, according to BBC reports.
Villagers who went to investigate the smell found that the water had changed colour.
The Kuk village is not far from Lake Nyos, where a sudden gas escape from beneath the water in 1986 killed more than 1,600 people and thousands of livestock.
Already, some villagers have left Kuk, but others have chosen to remain.
Those currently present have linked the natural phenomenon to the recent death of a traditional ruler. In other words, the ancestors were responding to his passing.
Kahn Elvis, a geology expert from the University of Yaoundé, said the smell could have been caused by the sudden release of magma from beneath the lake’s surface.
The local authorities have urged people to be calm and said the strange smell and change in water colour was due to the recent heavy rains, Journal du Cameroon reports.