Tarantula and turtle diet saved French jungle hikers

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

CAYENNE, French Guiana, (AFP) — One of two French hikers who survived seven weeks in the jungle of French Guiana on a diet of turtles and tarantulas was at death's door when rescuers found him, his brother says.

Loic Pillois and Guilhem Nayral, both 34, had been missing since mid-February. They turned up Thursday after spending seven weeks living off river water, seeds, insects and the meat of two turtles.

Nayral was airlifted to safety after his friend managed to reach the village of Saul in central Guiana and instruct rescuers how to find him. According to his brother Gilles, he was "almost unrecognisable".

"Two or three more days in the forest and he was dead," he said. Nayral's weight, normally of 75 kilos (165 pounds), was down to around 55 (121 pounds)...