The eight-year-old boy who spent five nights at Matusadona Game Park, which is inhabited by lions and elephants, has been treated and is recovering well, a local legislator has said.
Tinotenda Pudu wandered at least 23km from home into the game reserve and spent five days “sleeping on a rocky perch, amidst roaring lions, passing elephants, eating wild fruits” said Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi.
The game reserve has about 40 lions and at some point it was famed for having the highest lion population density in Africa.
"I engaged with the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the povincial medical director for Mashonaland West called me regarding Tinotenda’s well-being after his harrowing experience,” Murombedzi said in an update on X yesterday.
“They have assured me that now that he has rested and was stabilised, a mental health team will soon assess him, focusing on his mental health, to ensure he has not suffered lasting trauma.”