stranded in the wilderness

Pavlina Pižova has made headlines here Down Under and throughout the world for surviving after being stranded and lost in the severe New Zealand wilderness for a month. She was found this past Wednesday and appeared before the media yesterday; her ordeal is recounted in an interesting article in The Guardian.

Her story is particularly sad because her lover died on the second day of the ordeal, which was the worst part because they were stranded out in severely cold weather. After the third day, she found her way to a warden's hut where she could shelter and consume stored food.

However, she was unable to use the emergency radio to call for help because the instructions were printed in English, a language she does not understand. Pižova is from the Czech Republic.

I can understand people who like to trek through extreme wilderness, although this is something I would never do. What I can't understand are people who do this in an environment where they don't take the necessary preparations.

Trekking in the wilds of a country where you don't speak the native language and have no resources to seek help is a very bad idea and doesn't pass the common-sense test. Perhaps her lover spoke English, but that was a resource with no backup plan.

Pižova learned a very painful and heartbreaking lesson with her adventure. That often seems to be the case with people who are lost in the wilderness and found much later -- a small error can lead to devastating consequences.

Fiordland National Park, where this tragedy occurred, has become a popular attraction, thanks to the fact that the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed there. This is not the first time something like this has happened there and almost certainly will not be the last.