When anybody is stranded alone in the Siberian wilderness they will find themselves in a very serious situation, with extreme cold and dangerous animals all over the place, surviving here would be a challenge for even the most experienced woodsmen. That’s what makes the story of Karina Chikitova even more amazing, as not only did she managed to survive on her own, but she did so at the age of 3 when she was to young to even understand how to do it.
On July 29 of 2014, Karina was at home in her village in the Sakha region, a far northeastern section of Russia that’s very sparsely populated. Her father lived in a neighbouring village and she decided to go and find him after being told he had gone to fight a wildfire in the forest.
She simply walked out her house followed by her dog and headed in the direction she thought her father was. It goes without saying she got lost, but the odd thing is her mother didn’t realise until 4 days later for some reason. She finally raised the alarm and a small search team was formed, but due to how large the area is and how few people live there it wasn’t as big as it should have been.
The search team followed creeks and streams as they were the most likely places to find her, but rarely went into the forest unless escorted by armed guards as the region has a very high bear population. They didn’t find a single trace of her and everyone feared the worst, it had now been 11 days since she first disappeared and the search team knew the chances of a 3 year old surviving alone were next to non.
Fortunately for Karina, her faithful animal companion Naida had followed her when she left the house and helped to keep her warm at night. She later told how she would sleep on him during the night and how he scared off wild animals for her, but as loyal as he was, he couldn’t help with food or shelter.
On the 11th day Naida decided to try and reach help, as Karina was to scared to walk away from the stream she was staying next to and remained hiding in the grass. Naida ran to a near by hamlet were 8 people lived and barked at them until they followed him, which is when Artyom Borisov came across a bug bitten and scared Karina.
He later gave the following statement to a local paper:
‘She was sitting deep in deergrass, completely silent.
‘I didn’t actually notice her. She saw me and stretched her arms forward.
‘I picked her up, she was so tiny, so light, like fluff. She didn’t have shoes on.
‘Her face, legs and arms were bitten to blood. She was dead scared.
‘Straight away she asked to for water and food, and burst into tears.
‘To be honest I could hardly hold back tears, too.’
Karina was taken straight to a hospital and treated for her bug bites and malnourishment, and apart from being quite shaken up and scared was other wise in surprisingly good condition. She quickly made a full recovery and is now working hard to become a professional ballerina.
(the statue dedicated to Karina and her dog outside Yakutsk Airport)
Her story amazed the nation who couldn’t believe that such a young girl could survive in such a hostile environment for 11 days, and she was praised for her bravery. Her story touched so many people that she now has a statue dedicated to her outside the Yakutsk Airport, and of course it contains her furry friend and saviour Naida.