Prayers lead hunter to safety

Press, 13 September 1989, Page 3

Prayers lead hunter to safety

A Levin -man lost in the Tararua Ranges for nearly two days said he thought he would die in the bush.

Ferdinand Markoja, aged 33, a nurse, got lost after leaving a track on a Sunday walk. Recovering from the ordeal at his home, yesterday he said: “I’m not religious, but I soon learned how to pray.” Mr Markoja said he intended to go for a two-hour walk with his two Rottweiler dogs and although he took his .308-calibre rifle with him, he wasn’t really a hunter.

He entered the bush from Manakau North Road in an area he had never been in before and did not take any food or equipment.

Wearing only a Swanndri, jeans and gumboots he walked up a track then decided to follow a stream back to the car-park. Mr Markoja followed the stream for some time before becoming .concerned that it would not lead to the car, so

climbed a bank. This must have taken him further into the bush, he said.

It started to get dark and he changed direction a few times until it was too dark to walk and he realised he would have to stay the night in the bush. “I’m a smoker so I used my lighter to start a fire by lighting my handkerchief and then cuddled up to the dogs to keep warm,” he said.

On the first night Mr Markoja said he was cold, hungry and knew his wife would be worried, but it helped to have the dogs for company.

Early Monday he started walking again, getting more and more disorientated.

The second night was far worse as he could not start a fire and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever be found.

About 7.30 a.m. yesterday Mr Markoja left his dogs to climb a steep bank which he thought might lead him to the road. “I heard the chopper overhead and fired a couple of shots in the

air,” he said. "The shots were picked up by the helicopter and they circled around while I waved frantically.”

The helicopter picked him up in a clearing and flew him to the Levin Police Station.

The first that Mr Markoja’s wife, Jill, knew of her husband’s rescue was when he rang from the station. “He said ‘hello’ and I didn’t recognise his voice,” she said yesterday. “All he said on the phone was he was super hungry and thought he’d never come out alive,” she said.

' Mrs Markoja’s phone was busy all morning with family and friends anxious to hear what was going oh. She said the waiting had been horrible, as she knew her husband was not experienced in the bush.' ■ \. .. ... .

When he did not come home for tea on Sunday night she rang a friend and they went to the carpark, tooting and looking for

any sign. They called the police just before 11 p.m. but search and rescue parties did not move in until Monday afternoon. .. By yesterday morning four search parties were combing the area.

“That first night was pretty hard but I kept thinking it’s only one night and he is probably just a little lost,” she said today. “The second night had been far worse. We really were worried.”

After the rescue Mrs Markoja said the police told her the dogs were still in the bush and about 2-1/2 hours away from the search parties. They would bring them out, if they come across them but otherwise they would be left there.

Although in no hurry to go> back into the bush, Mr Markoja said he would hot leave the dogs there.

“If I have to go back in I’ll make sure I go with someone who knows what they’re doing and I’ll take a map, sleeping bag and food,’’i he said.