Eight-year-old boy from Zimbabwe survives five days in Matusadona lion game park

An eight-year-old boy has been found alive after spending five days in a game park populated by lions and elephants in northern Zimbabwe, a member of parliament has said.

The ordeal began when Tinatenda Pudu wandered 23 km (14 miles) from home in the “dangerous” Matusadona game park, said Mutsa Murambedi, the Masonoland West MP.

He spent five days “sleeping on a rocky perch, surrounded by roaring lions, swimming past elephants, eating wild fruit,” she said.

There are about 40 lions in the Matusadona game park. It is said to have had one of the highest lion population densities in Africa at one point African parks.

Murambedi said the boy used his wildlife knowledge and survival skills to stay alive.

Tinatenda survived the ordeal by eating wild fruit. He also dug small wells in dry riverbeds with a stick to access drinking water, a skill taught in drought-prone areas.

Members of the local Nyaminyami community began a search and beat drums every day to try to guide him home.

But in the end, the park rangers managed to find him.

On his fifth day in the wild, Tinatenda heard a ranger’s car and ran towards it, narrowly missing out, the MP said.

Fortunately, the rangers returned, noticed “fresh, small human tracks” and searched the area until they found him.

“Apparently, this was his last chance to escape after 5 days in the desert,” said the deputy.

The park covers more than 1,470 square kilometers (570 square miles) and is home to zebras, elephants, hippos, lions and antelopes.

On social media, people are praising the boy for his resilience.

“It’s beyond human comprehension,” one person wrote on X.

Another user wrote: “He’s going to have one hell of a story to tell when he goes back to school.”