A young boy has been rescued after spending five days in a game park full of lions and elephants in Zimbabwe, a lawmaker in the East African country said this week.
Mutsa Murambedi, a member of Zimbabwe's parliament, said on Wednesday post on social media that Tinatenda Pudu got lost in the Matusadona Game Park and ended up “sleeping on a rocky perch, among roaring lions, elephants swimming past… and just unforgiving wildlife” before he was eventually found by rangers.
CBS News affiliate BBC News reported that Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Service confirmed the incident and said Pudu was only 7 years old. The BBC, citing park management, reported that the young boy had wandered about 30 miles from where he lives.
Murambedi said Pudu survived because of his knowledge of wildlife and survival skills, eating fruit and digging in dry riverbeds to find water.
She said members of the local Nyaminyami community launched their own search and beat drums daily in the hope Pudu would find his way home, but rangers eventually spotted “fresh little human tracks” and managed to track him down.
The Matusadona Game Park covers about 570 square miles and is home to elephants, hippos and lions that can pose a threat to humans. According to the BBC, there are currently about 40 lions living here.
Murambedi praised the rangers and the local community for their tireless efforts to find Puda and called his safe return “a testament to the power of unity, hope, prayer and never giving up”.