By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Jalingo
Rangers of Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Taraba State have rescued a 20-year-old girl, Losive Ele, who spent four days wandering inside the forest after getting separated from illegal miners.
Ele had reportedly entered the forest with five men to engage in illegal mining when the group sighted park rangers and fled the area.
She said she also ran, but in a different direction from the other miners, leaving her stranded in the vast forest.
Ele, who spoke to journalists after her rescue, said poverty pushed her into illegal mining after she was told that precious stones could be easily obtained from the forest.
“When I saw the men I was mining with running away, I also ran. I ran for a long distance without meeting anybody. I became tired, sat under a big tree and eventually fell asleep,” she said.
According to her, she regained consciousness the following morning and continued wandering through the forest without knowing the direction to follow.
She said she spent four days without food, surviving only on water from streams in the forest.
“I was exhausted and starving and was almost giving up hope of surviving. As I continued walking, I stumbled upon a small zinc shelter near a big river. As soon as I entered the room, I fell asleep,” she said.
Ele said she was later awakened by two uniformed men who took her to an office, which she discovered was the headquarters of the Gashaka-Gumti National Park.
She was subsequently taken to a hospital in Serti, where she was admitted and treated.
The Conservator of the park, George Karagong, expressed amazement at her survival, saying she was exceptionally lucky to have escaped from the forest alive.
“ This forest is teeming with dangerous wild animals and reptiles, including baboons, capable of killing a lone human,” he said.
Karagong said the park management had been intensifying efforts to tackle illegal mining, poaching and logging, which he said were threatening the park’s biodiversity.
The Gashaka-Gumti National Park, which straddles Taraba and Adamawa states, has strengthened its security operations through collaboration with African Nature Investors (ANI), which provides specialised training and technical support to rangers.
David Peter, ANI’s head at the park, said the training and deployment of modern surveillance equipment, including helicopters, had helped to reduce criminal activities within the park.
“We were able to identify many illegal mining sites, and the illegal miners were chased away, while we also limited the activities of loggers and poachers,” he said.
