Interesting story with a happy ending. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/06/lost.hikers.ap/index.html

Were they lost? Why did they stop? It sounds like from the article that they were more than capable of hiking out to begin with.

There must be more to the story than that. As told, they sound like a couple of dimwits.

I just found a plea for help dated March 30, posted at backpacker.com and Travelers' Cafe by a friend of theirs. They must have walked off the trail. Then they sat and waited to be rescued for three weeks, hidden under a jungle canopy (duh!). And then they cut down a green tree to start a fire? Experienced? At what?

Sue


Posted by Helen in France (Guest) on 30.03.2007 09:19
PLEASE HELP: we have two friends lost in the forest of central French Guiana.

Guilhem NAYRAL and Loïc PILLOIS are both 34, French, experienced
backpackers, and landscape gardners / botanists by trade.

They arrived in Cayenne 12 February from Paris Orly by Air France. They then took a taxi to Regina and spent that night at the hostel of Aproague in Regina. They left the morning of 13 Feb and took the boat to the Grand Kanori rapids. The boat man spent one or two nights with them before returning. Guilhem and Loïc then intended to hike to the village of Saul; 100km which they should have taken about 10 days. A group of 4 hikers did the same hike starting 2 days later and arrived 8 days after in Saul, not having seen them at all.

They carried enough food for the hike, and water purifying tablets, a map and compass, but no satellite phone or GPS.

A major search was launched at the beginning of March when they didn't arrive back in Paris on Feb 27. After 3 weeks it has been called off having found not a trace of them. Family of Guilhem have arrived in Cayenne to try to find some answers and reactivate the search, Loic's family are also going out, but his wife is unable being 6 months pregnant with their second child. Guilhem is also married with a daughter. This is the blog set up by their family & friends: http://guilhem-loic-guyane.blogspirit.com/ - there are pictures of each, contact numbers, or you can post information.

If you have any information that could help please contact the
Gendarmerie in Cayenne (# given) or Régina (# given).

If you have met them, or can give any genuine information or suggestions we would be grateful. It is completely out of character for them and we are desperately worried.

Thank you. "

According to one of these guys, as reported in a press release this morning :
* he think they were not really "lost" : but they had planned for a 12 days journey and they did not advance at the planned speed.
More so, as time passed, they were travelling more and more slowly. So after 12 days, they stopped in a clearing, to rest and wait for rescue.
They build fire with big chunks of wood, to signal their presence.
But helicopters did not find them (looks like one came near them, one kilometer away, north of the camp.
They stayed put for three weeks, eating fruits, seeds and frogs, turtles and various insects;
Then seeing no rescue was probable, they started again, in a difficult landscape, soaked by daily rains.
Slow progression.
They stopped again, for 2 or 3 days. They could hear planes and knew they were not far away from their planned arrival town.
One of them being too weak to keep moving, the other one left him with water and a fire going.
About 24 hours later, he arrived in SAUL, where he could help the search for his buddy.

I prefer a burger to tarantula, myself.

Re martinfocazio



As long as they had some Garlic Paste, some flour, butter and Milk Powder, they would have quite easily dined on

Au Tarantula Béchamel Garlic

Collect 6 Tarantula Spiders, Slowly roast over an open griddle until the poisonous hairs have burnt or fallen off. Break apart and remove the lower abdomens which contain the goooey stuff and place to one side

Prepare a simple Béchamel sause then add the Garlic paste and Tarantula pieces. Slowly cook until the the Tarantula legs soften slightly - Season to taste and Enjoy.


You must remember the lost hikers were French.

MMmmm...toss it with some angel hair pasta and you got some good eatin. although I've never liked tarragon, one of the key ingredients of bechamel sauce.

A jungle is one of the last places I'd want to be lost. It's always wet, there's lots of creepy bugs, the canopy completely hides you from rescuers, etc. Would be even worse if it were mountainous.

Well, aren't we always told to "hug a tree" when we're younger? Being French, they probably woo'd all the trees in the area before deciding to move on

I disagree: a jungle could be one of the better places to survive. Plenty of wood, water and food. Yeah, lots of critters that can kill you, but you'd just have to kill them first! OK, yeah, you'll never be seen under the canopy, but look at the bright side [warning,sarcasm alert!]: Given the rate of global deforestation, you won't be lost for long!

There is ABSOLUTELY NO tarragon in a bechamel sauce !!!

Maybe you were thinking of the "sauce b?arnaise" recipe ....

Americans... Hot dogs... Beer... Hmph!

I don't think the tarantula hairs are poisonous, but some kinds are irritating, and if you're stupid enough to get them in your eyes and not get medical attention, I've heard they can blind you.

I'm sure they have their place in nature, but on my dinner plate, no.

Of course, I think those Frenchy-type people will eat practically anything as long as it has some kind of sauce on it. You can call snails 'escargot', but to me, they're still vermin.

Sue

I think the best survival cookware for some is a manual grinder. First, boil those bugs/worms, then put them in grinder and make some indistinguishable paste-like thing... Then just pretend it's peanut butter

Re Susan

Apparently The Goliath birdeater tarantula (Theraphosa Blondi) is considered a delicacy by the indigenous Piaroa people of Venezuela



Apparently tastes better than the finest Shrimp and its free range as well. Looks like the one above is almost as big as McD's Quarter Pounder. Although finding a Bun in the Jungle would be a problem.

Thank you for that, Bentirran, but you go right ahead.

Sue

(Just to assert you don't need to venture in some exotic place to put your life at risk...)

Another one, in continental France ....

An old lady (82 years old...) is reported missing in the "Mont Ventoux" area (max height = 1912m).
Apparently, she used to walk in this area.
But for the last 96 hours, she has not be seen.

Firemen, conducting the search parties, have little hope to find her alive...

Looks like she just went for a walk, without any water (nor, I guess, extra clothing nor shelter... whistle ?? what's that ??)

Unfortunately, firemen were right... her body has been found ....

Interesting development ...

This evening, I heard on France Inter radio, people living in Guyanna doubting these two guys were really lost...
and hinting that if a - good selling - book were made out of this "adventure", that, in fact, would not be a big surprise...

Looks like it's not so easy to get really lost in that area....
Well, I'm no expert... let's wait and see what happens ...

Hmmm, interesting...and unfortunetly, it's given me an idea...

-Blast