Eight-year-old Zimbabwean boy survives five days in lion-inhabited Matusadona game park

An eight-year-old boy was found alive after surviving five days in a park inhabited by lions and elephants in northern Zimbabwe, according to a member of parliament.

The ordeal began when Tinotenda Pudu wandered 23 kilometers (14 miles) from his home towards the “dangerous” Matusadona Game Park, Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi said in X.

He spent five days “sleeping in a rocky place, among roaring lions, passing elephants and eating wild fruits,” he said.

The Matusadona game park has about 40 lions. At one time, it had one of the highest lion population densities in Africa, according to African parks.

Murombedzi said the boy used his knowledge of nature and survival skills to stay alive.

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

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

But finally it was the park rangers who managed to find him.

On his fifth day in the wild, Tinotenda heard a ranger’s car and ran toward it, narrowly avoiding it, the MP said.

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

“This was probably his last chance to be rescued after five days in the desert,” the parliamentarian said.

The park is over 1,470 km2 (570 square miles) and is home to zebras, elephants, hippos, lions and antelopes.

On social media, people have praised the young man for his resilience.

“This is beyond human comprehension,” one person wrote on X.

Another user wrote: “He’ll have a great story to tell when he goes back to school.”