A member of parliament in Zimbabwe announced a young boy had been found alive after he spent five days in a game park occupied by lions and elephants.
Per BBC, Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi said the minor, identified as Tinotenda Pudu, “wandered away, lost direction” and “unknowingly” entered the “perilous” Matusadona Game Park in northern Zimbabwe.
“After 5 long, harrowing days in the jungle near Hogwe River, which feeds into Ume river, the boy has been found alive by the incredible rangers from Matusadona Africa Parks,” Murombedzi wrote on X. “His ordeal, wandering 23km from home, sleeping on a rocky perch, amidst roaring lions, passing elephants, eating wild fruits and just the unforgiving wild i [sic] too much for an 8 year old.”
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Per African Parks, the Matusadona Game Park spans 1,470 km2, and at one point, the park “supported the highest density of lion in Africa, and was an incredible stronghold for elephant and black rhino.” There are now about 40 lions in the park.
Murombedzi said the Nyaminyami community beat drums daily “to get the boy hear sound” and “get the direction back home.” The MP said the minor was eventually rescued on the fifth day after he initially “heard a park ranger’s vehicle and tried to run towards the noise but was late.”
Pudu is said to have then returned to the rocky outcrop. But when the park rangers returned using the same route, they “saw fresh little human footprints and scoured the area and found him.”
“This was probably his last chance of being rescued after 5 days in the wilderness,” Murombedzi added. Besides lions and elephants, other animals including leopards, buffaloes, zebras, hippopotamuses, and antelopes can be found in the park.
While confirming the incident to BBC, the Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority clarified the boy was not 8 but 7 years old, and the distance he trekked from his home was 49 km.
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