Boy, 4, Survives 6 Days Lost in African Wilderness With Hyenas and Jackals

A 4-year-old boy has been found alive after spending six days lost in the African wilderness surrounded by hyenas and jackals.

The boy was found huddled in a thicket of trees and bushes by Sheldrick Wildlife Trust pilot Roan Carr-Hartley. He had wandered 11 miles from his home in Asa—located in the northern Tsavo East park boundary in Kenya—and was covered in mosquito bites and extremely weak, having spent nearly a week alone without food.

The Tsavo East National Park is one of the largest parks in Kenya, stretching for 5,307 square miles. It is a vast area home to a wide variety of wildlife including elephants, rhinos and lions. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust specializes in rescuing elephants and rhinos in need in the area.

The boy had disappeared when traveling home during a storm with his brothers, after a day of herding livestock, Carr-Hartley told Newsweek. As they headed back through the storm, the four-year-old got separated from his brothers and became lost in the African wilderness.

The chief of Asa rang the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to ask for the help of one of their pilots, so they could search for the boy from above as well as on foot.

"A search party went out looking but couldn't find him, and began to follow tracks. They did an amazing job tracking him for countless days without food," Carr-Hartley told Newsweek.

He began his aerial search for the boy the morning after he disappeared, he wrote in a blog post. By the time he reached Asa, a search party of 70 men were already looking through the wilderness for the boy.

Search parties managed to track the boy 4 miles away from his village. But eventually the tracks became unintelligible. After hours of searching, there was still no sign of the boy. From above, Carr-Hartley spotted hyenas and jackals prowling the area.

"It was an unforgiving environment for any person to be alone, let alone a child so young," the pilot said in the blog post.

But there was one silver lining: it had rained recently, meaning the boy would at least be able to find something to drink.

Carr-Hartley refueled his aircraft before taking to the skies and searching for the child once again with no luck.

Eventually the search parties ran out of daylight. During the night, it rained heavily and the boy's tracks had disappeared.

Carr-Hartley said in the blog that is "seemed hopeless" to search for such a small boy in a "huge expanse of wilderness."

"There have been times where I haven't been able to locate a particular elephant for up to a week, let alone a four-year-old child."

But five days after the boy went missing his tracks reappeared. This time, they were 9 miles away from his village. Carr-Hartley took to the sky once again. That is when a "miracle happened."

"He had not yet caught up with the search party, still looking for the boy on foot, when he spotted "a tiny figure, [...] surrounded by a mass of shrubs and trees," he said in a blog post.

"It was the most surreal feeling. I couldn't believe it," Carr-Hartley told Newsweek. "I hadn't found the search party yet so I hadn't even began my search for the boy which is why it caught me so off guard. But the feeling at first was shock and disbelief. I couldn't believe all the variables that came together allowing me to see him."

The boy appeared scared of the plane at first, and tried to distance himself. But he was weak and stumbling as he walked.

With no way to contact the search party from below, Carr-Hartley circled on the same spot for half an hour until three members of the search party appeared. He leaned out of the plane and pointed to the boy.

"Turing at that exact moment, looking out of the left window and flying that exact line. This was followed by unbelievable relief and happiness. I had been thinking about it since he went missing and was just so happy it ended the way it did. And watching the amazing search party reach the boy was such a pure moment. I was welling up watching the reunion from above," Carr-Harlet told Newsweek.

Leaving the boy with the search party, the pilot made the journey back to the boys village to tell his mother and father that he had been found.

The mother "broke down in tears," in relief. The boy was seen by doctors is now recovering well.

The boys parents added "Roan" on to his name in homage to the pilot that found him. His friends have also nicknamed him "Pilot."

"A wonderful way to commemorate his six-day saga," the pilot said in the blog post.

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