An eight-year-old boy from Zimbabwe survived five days in Matusadona Park, where lions live

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

The ordeal began when Tinotenda Pudu wandered 23km (14 miles) from home into the “dangerous” Matusadona Game Park, Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi told X.

He spent five days “sleeping on a rocky plinth, amidst roaring lions, passing elephants, eating wild fruit,” she said.

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

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

Tinotenda survived his ordeal by eating wild fruit. He also used a stick to dig small wells in dry riverbeds to obtain drinking water – a skill taught in an arid region.

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

But in the end he was found by the park guards.

On his fifth day in the wilderness, Tinotenda heard a ranger’s car and ran toward it, narrowly missing him, the deputy said.

Luckily, the guards returned, spotted “fresh little human prints” and searched the area until they found him.

“This was probably his last chance to be rescued after 5 days in the wild,” the MP said.

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

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

“This is 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 gets back to school.”