”Ate Worms, Drank Urine”: Man Shares How He Survived In Amazon Forest For 31 Days

He was found by search and rescue teams after a month

In an extraordinary tale of survival, a Bolivian man has claimed that he survived by eating insects and worms, after being lost alone in the Amazon forest for more than a month. According to a BBC report, 30-year-old Jhonatan Acosta got separated from his friends during a hunting trip in northern Bolivia on January 25. Almost a month later, he was found by search and rescue teams.

Following his rescue, Mr Acosta recounted how he kept himself alive in the forest and what hardships he had to go through. He said that he survived by eating worms, insects, and wild fruits similar to papayas. 

”I asked God for rain. If it hadn’t rained, I would not have survived,” he said. Mr Acosta added that he collected rainwater in his rubber boots to keep himself hydrated. However, he was forced to drink his own urine when the skies dried up.

He also talked about how he encountered all sorts of wild animals and different creatures in the jungle including a jaguar. 

After 31 days, he miraculously spotted a search party some 300 metres away and limped towards them, shouting for help. A group of four men finally found him. 

Mr Acosta lost 17 kg, had a dislocated ankle and was dehydrated after spending 31 days in the jungle. Following the ordeal, he was taken to a health centre where he had his beard and hair shaved.

He has now vowed to give up hunting and dedicate his life to making music for God. 

“He is going to play music to praise God. He promised God that, and I think he will keep his promise,” Horacio Acosta, the survivor’s younger brother, said. 

In a similar incident, a man from the Caribbean island of Dominica claimed he survived 24 days lost at sea in a sailboat by eating ketchup before being rescued in Colombian waters. 

“I had no food. There was only a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat, garlic powder and Maggi. So I mixed it up with some water for me to survive 24 days in the sea,” Elvis Francois, 47, said in English in a video released by the Colombian Navy.