He Jumped Off a Mountain to Escape

A young backpacker descends a steep Colombian mountain slope in a visual reconstruction of an escape from captivity. (Digital Illustration: GoBeyondLocal)

He Jumped Off a Mountain to Escape

Matt Scott was 19 and nearing the end of a gap year when he signed up for a trek to the Lost City in northern Colombia.

He had spent months travelling around South America. Only about a week was left before his flight home.

The trek led into the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, where steep mountains rose above thick jungle. For three days, the group followed the route without serious trouble.

During the early hours of September 12, 2003, that changed.

Armed men entered the camp while the tourists were sleeping. Eight foreign visitors were taken from their sleeping places and forced into the mountains.

Scott was one of them.

The group was divided, and the captors began moving the hostages through the forest. Scott had little idea where they were being taken or what the men intended to do with them.

The hostages walked under armed guard. Scott later said the group was told they would be taken farther into the mountains.

He watched the men around him and the ground beneath his feet. The longer he stayed with the group, the deeper they could move into territory he did not know.

About 11 hours after the kidnapping began, Scott saw a chance.

He was walking along a mountain ridge with an armed guard behind him.

Scott moved away from the group and pushed himself over the side.

The drop sent him onto a steep slope covered with vegetation and loose ground. He slid and fell roughly 20 to 30 feet, with branches and rocks striking him on the way down.

Scott landed in thick undergrowth below the ridge.

His glasses were gone, leaving his view blurred. He looked back towards the mountain but saw no captor coming after him.

For the first time since the abduction, he was alone.

He found running water at the bottom of the gorge and decided to follow it. Scott believed the stream could eventually connect with the Rio Buritaca and take him towards areas where people lived.

He checked the few things he still had. A water bottle, some panela, a torch, socks and a waterproof plastic sheet were among the useful items.

The damaged backpack made movement harder. Scott discarded it, along with the water bottle. The torch had broken, so that went too. He kept the top of the torch as a small cup.

The plastic sheet was more useful. Scott tucked it into a Wellington boot and continued beside the water.

More than 12 hours had passed since the escape when Scott found a flat patch where he could stop.

He cleared some vegetation, wrapped himself in the plastic sheet and slept on the mountainside.

Food was already scarce. His next task was simple: get back to the stream and keep moving.

The water kept him supplied with something to drink, but staying close to it made the cold harder to escape. Scott spent long periods walking through running water. His Wellington boots filled up, leaving his feet wet for hours.

Vegetation scratched his arms, insects added to the discomfort, and damp clothing offered little protection when temperatures fell after dark.

The stream also failed to provide the easy route Scott had hoped for. The gorge narrowed in places, while steep sides and thick vegetation forced him around obstacles.

Food was becoming a more serious concern. What he had carried from the camp was running out, and there was no place along the route to replace it.

Several days passed before Scott found a footpath.

It was the first clear sign that other people had travelled through that part of the mountains. He followed it, hoping it would lead towards inhabited land.

There was still no way to know where it ended.

Thirst became severe. Scott later described drinking his own urine when he could not find enough water. He also found a plant that held water and collected rainwater with a sock.

Hunger was taking away more of his strength. During the long hours alone, he sang nursery rhymes to himself while walking.

Around the tenth day, the surroundings began to change.

Scott reached cultivated land and saw donkeys nearby. The animals suggested that people were close enough to tend them.

Several hours passed before a Kogui man, a woman and one of their children arrived.

The family did not speak Spanish. Scott could not explain his situation through ordinary conversation, so he used gestures.

He showed that armed men had taken him and that he had escaped into the forest.

For a while, Scott could not tell whether the family understood what he was trying to say.

The Kogui people took Scott towards their settlement.

Food was waiting there. He ate oranges and salted beans after days with very little to eat.

A place to rest was available too. Once Scott removed his wet boots, he could see how badly his feet had swollen after days in cold water.

Colombian soldiers reached the Kogui settlement while Scott was there.

After nearly two weeks alone and an escape from armed captors, he still had to determine whether he was finally out of danger. The soldiers had come to take him away from the mountains.

An army helicopter arrived at the settlement.

Scott climbed aboard and was flown towards Bogotá. Doctors treated the physical effects of the ordeal at a hospital.

Military personnel questioned him about the kidnapping. British officials arrived, and Scott spoke with his parents.

Scott returned to Britain after his recovery in Colombia.

At Heathrow, he publicly thanked the Indigenous people who had helped him out of the jungle and the Colombian soldiers who carried him away from the mountains.