A four-year-old boy has incredibly managed to survive alone for six days after getting lost in the Kenyan wilderness.
The boy from the town of Asa was miraculously unharmed despite trekking more than 11 miles from his home to a remote area teeming with jackals and hyenas.
The boy disappeared during a storm after spending a day herding cattle with his brothers on November 28. During the torrential weather, the boy was separated from his siblings and found himself lost in the Kenyan bush.
After six days alone, the boy was finally found after a search party was deployed to locate him. He was spotted from the air by pilot Roan Carr-Hartley, who worked for the nearby Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Left to his own devices after six days, the little boy (pictured) was finally found after a search party was deployed to locate him. He was spotted from the air by pilot Roan Carr-Hartley in the Kenyan wilderness
A search party of 70 men fanned through the wild scrubland in search of the little boy. They are pictured from above by pilot Roan Carr-Hartley
Pilot Roan Carr-Hartley captured the joyful moment when the boy, who had been missing for six days, was reunited with the village search party
The day after, when the boy still hadn’t returned home, the Asa community leader called the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to ask if they would help their 70-strong search party find the boy to bring him home safely bring to.
The chief had heard from a neighboring village that a few days earlier the Wildlife Trust had helped them locate a lost child by using an airplane to locate it from the air.
Pilot Roan Carr-Hartley, who wrote a blog post about the incident, said he went in search of the boy early the next morning.
“When I was at the top,” he wrote, “a search party of 70 men swarmed through the wild scrubland in search of the little boy. The chief gave me a rough guide to the search party’s location. The group had tracked the boy to an area seven kilometers from his village, but then the tracks became unreadable.”
The pilot unsuccessfully scanned the area for four hours, only spotting packs of hyenas and jackals.
Search party members run toward the lost boy in amazing footage from pilot Roan Carr-Hartley
Search party members hug the little boy who survived alone in the unforgiving wilderness full of predators
“It was an unforgiving environment for any human being to be alone, let alone a child that young,” Carr-Hartley wrote.
The only consolation of the good news was that it had rained recently, which meant the boy would at least have access to water.
After a long stay in the air, the pilot flew back to base to refuel before departing for another three and a half hours.
Carr-Hartley said: “It seemed hopeless looking for a little boy in such a vast wilderness. There have been times when I have not been able to locate a particular elephant for up to a week, let alone a four-year-old child.”
But although it rained again that night, meaning the lost boy would find water, the weather had covered its tracks. The search party lost hope.
Then, five days later, after the boy’s disappearance, the pilot received another call from the chief, telling him they’d found tracks again — a whopping 15 kilometers from his home.
“Hope was renewed and I was incredibly excited to continue searching,” Carr-Hartley wrote. “I kept thinking about that poor little guy out there and I wanted to do whatever it took to find him — even if it seemed like an impossible mission.”
As soon as the sun rose the next day, Carr-Hartley was back in the air, determined to find the boy while the search party was still on foot.
After searching for the boy for an hour, “a miracle” happened.
Carr-Hartley recalled his relief: “From my left wing I saw a tiny figure below me, surrounded by a mass of shrubs and trees.”
“I couldn’t believe my eyes, but there he was: a tiny boy surrounded by endless wilderness. I was shocked that he was still alive and able to walk.’
Understandably frightened, the boy initially hid from the plane, finding shelter under bushes and trees. The heroic pilot said the boy was “apparently hypoglycemic and tripped while walking”.
Heroic pilot Roan Carr-Hartley is pictured with the search party after they teamed up to bring the boy home
The little boy is miraculously reunited with his family and the members of his village, who rejoice at his return
He circled his plane tightly and tried to get the search party’s attention on foot, unable to communicate with them.
To his relief, three members of the search party showed up, so Carr-Hartley reached out of his plane, pointed at the boy, and snapped photos of the miraculous reunion.
“They finally got to the boy who was still in disbelief that his ordeal was over. When they reached him, they lifted him over their shoulders and began to cheer and sing. It was a sight that cheered me up watching from above.’
Carr-Hartley then made his way back to the boy’s village to attend the celebrations of his return.
“When I showed his mother the photos of her boy, she burst into tears. She couldn’t believe he was still alive and was flooded with emotion.’
The search party had carried the boy home, as is their custom, singing songs of thanks and blessings. Covered with mosquito bites and scratches from thorn bushes, the boy was given water and placed on a slow IV drip while doctors monitored him.
Carr-Hartley was given a goat by the elders of the community and flew back home.
A few days later, Car-Hartley received an update from the boy’s parents telling him that the boy was recovering well. In honor of his heroic efforts, they had added “Roan” to the boy’s name and given him the nickname “Pilot” by his friends.