There is really no other way to say it, I was protected in that forest. About a dozen or so miracles happened during my 50 days in the forest that completely saved my life. I only learned later that the forest I was in was one of the most sacred forests to the indigenous Maori people, and I also later learned that they knew about my presence in the forest and they were praying for me.

One day when I had gotten lost and was wandering around for a few hours trying to find a trail to no avail, I just decided to head due west in hopes I would find the river that my campsite was alongside. Well, I found the river, but it was straight down 100 meters below me. I thought maybe I could climb down to an area where it was a little wider and see if there was a ledge to walk along the river. I started going down, holding onto bushes or trees, until one snapped and I tumbled about 20 feet. Thankfully the thick brush at the edge of the ledge stopped me from going over.

Now I was really trapped. There was no ledge, no path, and I had no way of going up or down. Then the miracle. I noticed there was a family of deer just over to my left. I knew there were deer in the forest, but I hadn’t been able to see them because they had become nocturnal due to the presence of hunters in this forest. Well that day, they showed up for me and they let me follow them right along the edge. It was just about 6 inches wide, but I followed their footsteps and managed to follow the deer to lower ground.

On my last day in the forest during my hike out, I met the Maori people who lived in the forest. Those kind souls welcomed me in a beautiful welcoming ceremony, invited me to stay the night in their morai (the grand meeting hall for all the neighboring tribes), and treated me to my first warm and fresh meal in a long time, not to mention a hot shower. They told me they were praying for me every night and making sure the spirits were watching over me. I know science will say it was all a coincidence and luck, and maybe it was, but at a certain point, with so many miracles, the science just felt too nonsensical to believe.