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Speaker 1: The gap year, the subject of much yearning and derision

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Speaker 1: of internet memes and misty eyed and blinkered nostalgia of

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Speaker 1: much heard refrains repeated by first year university students and

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Speaker 1: boomers in offices, the best year of my life. I

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Speaker 1: really found myself. I've never learned so much about the

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Speaker 1: world so quickly. Where entire cities and even nations are

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Speaker 1: reduced items ticked off a list. We did Peru, we

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Speaker 1: did Kenya, we did Thailand. For what it's worth, I

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Speaker 1: did Australia. The concept of a gap year where mostly white,

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Speaker 1: middle and upper class young adults take a year or

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Speaker 1: so to sometimes work, earn money, and go traveling, and

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Speaker 1: was popularized in the nineteen sixties and seventies. The baby

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Speaker 1: boomers had come of age amid war, nuclear armament, and

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Speaker 1: a burgeoning free love movement, and longed to stretch their

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Speaker 1: legs away from their great or silent parents. They momentarily

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Speaker 1: shirked off the expectations placed on them medicine, law, engineering,

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Speaker 1: and worked in cafes and bars instead, before collecting their

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Speaker 1: hard earned money and taking to the seas and skies,

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Speaker 1: volunteering in Ethiopia, interrailing across Europe trekking along what was

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Speaker 1: known as the Hippie Trail through India, Pakistan and Nepal.

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Speaker 1: These boomers became parents themselves to Gen X and millennials

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Speaker 1: ubergat gen Z or, growing up in the shadow of

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Speaker 1: successive financial crashes, televised terrorism, and an increasing climate crisis,

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Speaker 1: all the while flicking through photos of their parents international

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Speaker 1: heydays in hot places, mountains and markets, and wide open seas,

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Speaker 1: far flung reaches of the world, a million miles away

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Speaker 1: from exams and schedules and strict dinner times. Almost two

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Speaker 1: thousand students took a gap year last year, seeking new sights,

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Speaker 1: sounds and smells, looking for that undefinable something. Though it

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Speaker 1: remains very much the preserve of those who tend to

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Speaker 1: be from more financially secure backgrounds and is easy to ridicule,

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Speaker 1: it's certainly no bad thing to want to see and

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Speaker 1: experience more of the world, and it's no easier for

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Speaker 1: the parents left behind. What can often be so aspirational

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Speaker 1: for the young, freedom adventure uncertainty is often and naturally

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Speaker 1: horror for the parent. They fit for their children's safety

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Speaker 1: in these unknown places or ways. They worry about their

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Speaker 1: health and happiness, and stress constantly that their children must

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Speaker 1: be careful, and fret that careful still might not be enough.

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Speaker 1: Even the parents who were in their day daring adventurers themselves,

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Speaker 1: and even remain as such, even they wish sometimes that

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Speaker 1: their children were not such adventurous spirits. They will think

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Speaker 1: back to their own instances of youthful daring and perceived

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Speaker 1: invincibility and say, do as I say, not as I do.

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Speaker 1: They will stand at airports and train stations, at front

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Speaker 1: doors on early mornings as taxi doors close and hands wave,

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Speaker 1: feeling that awful fear that only a parent knows when

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Speaker 1: a precious piece of themselves heads out into the wild

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Speaker 1: wild west of the world. And they pray that nothing

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Speaker 1: goes wrong, and if it does well, then they pray

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Speaker 1: for answers, for hope, for closure. They pray not to

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Speaker 1: be another statistic or cautionary tale. They pray that theirs

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Speaker 1: will not be the kind of story that comes after

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Speaker 1: these words. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith.

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Speaker 1: It is March fourteenth, twenty fourteen. Two young women in

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Speaker 1: Amosh fought in the Netherlands about thirty kilometers southwest of Amsterdam,

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Speaker 1: have finished their degrees at the University of Utrecht and

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Speaker 1: are preparing for the trip.

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Speaker 2: Of a lifetime.

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Speaker 1: They are Lizana Frone and Chris Kramer's and they are

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Speaker 1: best friends. Lisianna is athletic born on September twenty fourth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one. She is six feet tall with ash

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Speaker 1: blonde hair and dark, soulful eyes. She is a volleyball

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Speaker 1: player and is known as a thoughtful, intelligent, and empathetic

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Speaker 1: young woman. Despite her natural shyness, she has an adventurous spirit.

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Speaker 1: She tries her hand at skydiving and is a keen

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Speaker 1: walker in her native Netherlands. She loves to take photographs

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Speaker 1: and is studying applied psychology. Chris, her friend and university's

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Speaker 1: room mate, is in many ways her opposite. Born August ninth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two, she is outgoing, spontaneous and outspoken, with vivid,

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Speaker 1: strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She has just

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Speaker 1: completed her studies in cultural social education, specializing in art,

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Speaker 1: and has decided to continue with a postgraduate program in

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Speaker 1: art history after their trip. She loves theater festivals and

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Speaker 1: the red hot chili peppers. Chris and Lisana met while

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Speaker 1: working part time jobs at the same cafe. Hoping to

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Speaker 1: save enough money to go traveling, they decided to share

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Speaker 1: a flat and ultimately travel together. They are twenty two

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Speaker 1: and twenty one, respectively. They decide on Panama, a small

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Speaker 1: tropical country immediately north of Columbia, A popular hotspot with tourists, expats,

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Speaker 1: and retirees. Panama boasts beautiful landscapes, an entirely new pace

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Speaker 1: of life, and the opportunity to learn Spanish and volunteer

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Speaker 1: with charities. On March fifteenth, the parents accompany them to

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Speaker 1: Skipple Airport, just outside of Amsterdam. They hug and kiss

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Speaker 1: their daughters goodbye, clasping their faces and kissing them on

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Speaker 1: the cheek. The two young women, Lousanna and Chris, wearing

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Speaker 1: light jackets and scarves, laugh and smile and roll their

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Speaker 1: eyes at each other, a little embarrassed by it all.

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Speaker 1: Eventually they make their final exchanges, then pull their big

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Speaker 1: rucksacks from the floor and hook them onto their backs.

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Speaker 1: They give each other a look as if to say

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Speaker 1: let's go. Then they turn one final time to their parents,

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Speaker 1: no longer able to contain their excitement, and wave goodbye,

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Speaker 1: and then they turn and head through security. Their parents

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Speaker 1: stay to watch, even just to see the back of

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Speaker 1: their heads as they disappear into the distance, until they

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Speaker 1: can no longer see them anymore. Chris and Lizana's first

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Speaker 1: stop is San Jose, Costa Rica. They stay there for

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Speaker 1: a couple of days before moving on to Boccos del

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Speaker 1: Toro in Panama, which they describe as beautiful and cozy.

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Speaker 1: And it really is beautiful. There are houses built on

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Speaker 1: stilts right out to sea. The colors are vivid and vibrant,

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Speaker 1: as though it's a place of abundant saturation, the color

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Speaker 1: dialed right up on the TV. The sea is duel bright,

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Speaker 1: and the sky is clear. The lush plant life presents

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Speaker 1: more shades of green than they ever thought possible. It's

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Speaker 1: all taxis and buses, borders and boats, the staff of

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Speaker 1: a gap year adventurer's dreams. They make friends, fine starfish

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Speaker 1: on white sandy beaches, sun bathe under palm trees. They

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Speaker 1: drink straight out of coco nuts. They talk and laugh

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Speaker 1: all the time. They write in their diaries about all

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Speaker 1: the delicious food they eat, the beautiful locations they visit,

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Speaker 1: about the time they danced in the warm Panamanian rains

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Speaker 1: and their slowly improving Spanish. They visit mangrove swamps and

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Speaker 1: see sloths and dolphins in the wild. In Bocchus, staying

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Speaker 1: at the Spanish school, meeting other young travelers, they revel

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Speaker 1: in the veritable paradise of their new surroundings. For their parents,

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Speaker 1: each message home, beer to WhatsApp, or precious Skype call

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Speaker 1: brings a warm, reassuring feeling and smiles at the thought

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Speaker 1: of their daughters so far away yet seeming so happy.

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Speaker 1: But Chris and Lizana are not in Bocchus for long.

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Speaker 1: After a couple of weeks, they move on to Bocchette

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Speaker 1: in the Cherokee region, to continue with their Spanish lessons

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Speaker 1: and to begin volunteering at a nursery school. On their

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Speaker 1: last day before they leave, Chris takes a moment to

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Speaker 1: write a quick line in her diary, the time we

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Speaker 1: had in Boccas was really wonderful. We had a real

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Speaker 1: holiday there. It felt like goodbye because we probably won't

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Speaker 1: be coming back. On March twenty ninth, twenty fourteen, Lizanna

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Speaker 1: and Chris take a small bus to Bocchette in western Panama.

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Speaker 1: It too is a lush and ferdant place, a small

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Speaker 1: town on the Caldera River. It's known as Little Switzerland

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Speaker 1: because of its many is crossing streams and brooks, illuminating

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Speaker 1: the area in crystal clear water and fertile green. The

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Speaker 1: still active Baru volcano forty minutes away in riches the soil,

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Speaker 1: contributing to the unique ecosystem of the surrounding Cherokee Highlands.

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Speaker 1: It's no wonder the region is home to coffee plantations

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Speaker 1: and so many unique species of plants and animals. They

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Speaker 1: arrive eventually at Spanish by the River, an all inclusive

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Speaker 1: language school and hostel. Here travelers can take language classes

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Speaker 1: and get paired with host families, and also put in

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Speaker 1: touch with schools and nurseries where they can volunteer. It's strange,

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Speaker 1: after two weeks of independence and new friends in Bacchus

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Speaker 1: del Toro to suddenly find themselves part of a family.

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Speaker 1: Their hosts are friendly and used to foreign nationals with

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Speaker 1: little Spanish, but all the same, those first couple of

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Speaker 1: days in Boquetta are a difficult transition. It's the first

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Speaker 1: time in all these weeks that they feel homesick. It

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Speaker 1: soon passes and They're excited for their first day at Aura,

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Speaker 1: the nursery they've been assigned as volunteers on March thirty. First,

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Speaker 1: they arrive at Ara, but are given less than friendly welcome.

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Speaker 1: The staff seem a little cold and claim not to

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Speaker 1: recognize them. They say they weren't expecting anyone to start

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Speaker 1: work that day. Lisano and Chris are brusquely informed that

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Speaker 1: they should come back next week. The young women are throne.

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Speaker 1: This had been planned months ago, they thought. Surprised and disappointed,

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Speaker 1: they head back to Spanish by the River and chat

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Speaker 1: to Maryoline, one of their coordinators. They spend the day

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Speaker 1: languish in the sun, frustrated and a little anxious about

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Speaker 1: the abrupt change in plans. They wait for Maya Line

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Speaker 1: to find out if there is work for them elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: The response is inconclusive, but Maya Line is hopeful that

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Speaker 1: she can get them some work at another nursery called

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Speaker 1: Cassa Esperanza. She promises she'll have confirmation by the end

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Speaker 1: of the next day. Lisanna and Chris are glad to

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Speaker 1: hear it. They're none too keen to return to Aura

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Speaker 1: after the less than warm welcome they'd received, and after

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Speaker 1: reading about the alternative project Cassa Esperanza. They've become enthused

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Speaker 1: and decide that maybe it was all for the best anyway.

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Speaker 1: They go for a massage to lift their spirits. They

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Speaker 1: write messages to family and friends on WhatsApp and Facebook

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Speaker 1: and research some possible walking tours for the weak ahead,

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Speaker 1: and then head out for dinner. That night, Chris, pleasantly decompressed,

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Speaker 1: signs off her diary with let's go with the Panamanian flow.

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Speaker 1: Tomorrow will be a new day, a new month, and

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Speaker 1: a chance for a brand new start. Since arriving in

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Speaker 1: Central America, Lezanna and Chris were in daily contact with

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Speaker 1: their parents, and Chris with her boyfriend Stefan.

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Speaker 2: Two.

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Speaker 1: At two pm Dutch time, eight am in Panama on Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: April first, Stefan got a text from Chris. She was

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Speaker 1: excited about the week ahead. They'd made lots of plans

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Speaker 1: and she was looking forward to telling him all about it,

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Speaker 1: But then there was nothing. When their pairs have not

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Speaker 1: heard from them by Wednesday, they try texting them again,

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Speaker 1: but they are met with only a thundering silence. They

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Speaker 1: try to stay calm. Their daughters are, after all, having

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Speaker 1: the time of their lives on the other side of

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Speaker 1: the world. It isn't their priority to stay in touch.

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Speaker 1: Not hearing from them is in some ways to be expected.

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Speaker 1: Then late on the Wednesday night, Lizana's parents receive a

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Speaker 1: call from the host family in Bockette. They tell them

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Speaker 1: that their daughter and Chris did not come home the

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Speaker 1: night before. The parents contact the agency that organize the

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Speaker 1: trip and ask them to see if.

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Speaker 2: They can get more information.

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Speaker 1: The agency calls them back soon after with more troubling news.

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Speaker 1: The girls didn't just fail to come home for the night.

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Speaker 1: They haven't been seen or heard from from in over

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Speaker 1: twenty four hours. By anyone, twenty four becomes forty eight,

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Speaker 1: then seventy two. Within days, both sets of parents. Both

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Speaker 1: sets of parents fly out to Panama to try and

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Speaker 1: figure out for themselves what is going on. Knowing only

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Speaker 1: one thing for certain, their daughters are missing, and not

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Speaker 1: of their own volition. Bit by bit, alongside the police,

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Speaker 1: they start to develop a picture of their daughter's last

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Speaker 1: known whereabouts. On Tuesday, April first, the last time they

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Speaker 1: were known to have been seen, Luzanna and Chris are

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Speaker 1: thought to have had lunch with two Dutch men in town.

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Speaker 2: These men were.

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Speaker 1: Later questioned by the authorities. They said that the women

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Speaker 1: told them that they'd supposedly spoken to a local guide,

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Speaker 1: God Feliciano about taking a hike to the ill Pianista Trail.

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Speaker 1: It's a popular walk among tourists, about four kilometers north

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Speaker 1: of Bockheta. It's a fairly simple and clearly marked trail

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Speaker 1: that takes you through the local cloud forests the unique

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Speaker 1: microclimatic jungle of the Cherokee Highlands. It's about a four

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Speaker 1: hour round trip and leads to El Mirador, or the Overlook,

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Speaker 1: a stunning viewpoint with a three hundred and sixty degree

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Speaker 1: panoramic of the mountainous rainforest. Most tourists walk up it,

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Speaker 1: pose for a few photos, and then come straight back down.

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Speaker 1: They do occasionally get lost, but they're almost always found

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Speaker 1: by guides or locals returning to town, relieved, bitten and dehydrated,

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Speaker 1: having been little but embarrassed by the jungle. It is

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Speaker 1: a stunning landscape. The cord Piera de Talamanca, the mountain

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Speaker 1: range that dominates the Highlands, stretching into Costa Rica. It's

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Speaker 1: full of rare plants and the reaching fronds of vast

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Speaker 1: mossy trees hows all manner of creatures, brightly colored hummingbirds

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Speaker 1: as well as hawks and eagles and tiny pigmy owls.

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Speaker 2: And that's just in the air.

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Speaker 1: In the trees, one might find howler monkeys on the ground, cougars, jaguars,

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Speaker 1: and ocelots. The jungle holds many dangers, and it's easy

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Speaker 1: to just get plain lost. In the dry season from

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Speaker 1: January to May, the dense jungle around the ill Pianista

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Speaker 1: Trail is incredibly difficult to traverse. The winding, narrow trailsills

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Speaker 1: and walls of trees and shrubs are almost solid. You

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Speaker 1: need machetes to hack through it. Anyone straying off the

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Speaker 1: path for whatever reason without the deep knowledge of the

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Speaker 1: jungle held only by very experienced guides and indigenous inhabitants

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Speaker 1: of the Talamanca such as the Ngabi people, would be

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Speaker 1: in serious trouble. The Ngabe's territory today exists within Panama

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Speaker 1: and Costa Rica in Central America. They mostly live within

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Speaker 1: the Ingabe Bouglas Comarca, a comarca being a self governed

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Speaker 1: indigenous region in the western Panamanian provinces of Cherokee, Verakuas

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Speaker 1: and Boccas del Toro. They also have five indigenous territories

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Speaker 1: in southwestern Costa Rica. They, like many indigenous groups, have

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Speaker 1: faced persecution, dating at least as far far back as

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Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus's sixteenth century attempt to colonize the area. There

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Speaker 1: are famous stories of Ingabe leaders repelling Columbus and his

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Speaker 1: men time and time again, but they were eventually pushed

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Speaker 1: and kettled into the western mountains by the conquistadors, driven

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Speaker 1: from their spread of land between the Pacific Ocean to

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Speaker 1: the Caribbean Sea by the development of large banana plantations.

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Speaker 1: As a result, they are some of the only people

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Speaker 1: who contraversed the Cordillera de Talamanca safely, and are understandably

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Speaker 1: wary of outsiders, particularly government authorities who spent many years

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Speaker 1: denying them. A comarker of their own, the majority now

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Speaker 1: live within its boundaries. In the rainy season from May

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Speaker 1: to December. To be caught unprepared or unaware is to

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Speaker 1: surrender entirely to the elements. The steep terrain and heavy

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00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:08,399
Speaker 1: rainfall flood the network of rivers, streams, and brooks, causing lethal,

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Speaker 1: fast running river channels throughout the Cloud Forest. The air

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Speaker 1: is hot and heavy as currents rise from the Pacific

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Speaker 1: and deposit over some one hundred and thirty five inches

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Speaker 1: of rain every year, and so the water levels rise,

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Speaker 1: Narrow trails become mudshutes, fog Cloud's vision in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the day, and the runoff Jettison's downhill through a

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Speaker 1: myriad of sharply jagged and rocky ravines that are often

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Speaker 1: obscured by the fauna of the landscape. Ill Pianista or

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Speaker 1: the piano player, is so named because it climbs just so,

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Speaker 1: step after step, up and up, like scales on a piano.

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Speaker 1: At the top of the trail is the continental divide.

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Speaker 1: This makes the point where the land's water divides, splitting

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Speaker 1: inevitably into two. On the western side of the divide,

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Speaker 1: the rushing aggregate of rivers flowed downhill into the Pacific Ocean.

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Speaker 1: Those to the east gather together and eventually.

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Speaker 2: Reached the Caribbean Sea.

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Speaker 1: There are many tour and guide companies operating out of

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Speaker 1: Boketa and the surrounding areas, offering a range of hikes,

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00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 1: hot spring visits, and other experiences for adventure seekers. Feliciano

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Speaker 1: is a guide whose lived and worked in Bokhetta his

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Speaker 1: entire life. He offered Lisanna and Chris a full package tour,

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Speaker 1: including a guided hike up Ilpianista and beyond to the

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Speaker 1: nearby Continental Divide, and an overnight stop at its ranch

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Speaker 1: in the jungle on the far side at the Cordillera

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Speaker 1: de Talamanca. For reasons unknown, they put him off. According

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Speaker 1: to Feliciano, who was also interviewed by the police, the

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Speaker 1: women agreed to meet him the next day to undertake

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Speaker 1: his tour, but they never showed up. At about ten

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Speaker 1: am on the Tuesday, Nzanna and Chris supposedly took a

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Speaker 1: taxi from their host family's house into Bocchetta. Some say

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00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 1: they were then seen having brunch with the two dutchmen

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Speaker 1: before heading off toward the il Pianista trail, the same

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Speaker 1: trail that Feliciano said he'd agreed to take them on

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Speaker 1: the following day. Perhaps they never intended to go with Feliciano.

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Speaker 1: Maybe they simply didn't want to pay for a hike

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Speaker 1: that many tourists manage alone. Perhaps they didn't want to

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Speaker 1: go into the jungle with a stranger who suggested they

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Speaker 1: stay at his ranch. Perhaps they'd heard some of the

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Speaker 1: complaints that had been made against Feliciano over the years,

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Speaker 1: allegations of inappropriate behavior around female clients, for example. Either

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00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:17,640
Speaker 1: way they decided to hike alone, the trail is clearly

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Speaker 1: marked now.

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Speaker 2: At its end is.

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Speaker 1: Situated a huge sign which makes it clear that other

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00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,800
Speaker 1: trails leading off from the main one are not for

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Speaker 1: tourists and not maintained by the National Park rangers. Often

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00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,919
Speaker 1: the sign is not necessary during the rainy season. The

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00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 1: other trails boast thigh high mud and a dangerous twisting

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Speaker 1: whose very nature would convince all but the most confident

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Speaker 1: to stay away. But at the time in twenty fourteen,

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Speaker 1: there was no sign and the rains had not yet arrived.

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Speaker 1: Some say they went straight to the trail and were

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Speaker 1: accompanied by a zoo, the host's family dog. Over time,

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00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: the details have become as dense and foggy as the

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Speaker 1: jungle itself, overgrown with retellings and changed statements. The witness

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Speaker 1: testimony we can verify is what the women were wearing

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Speaker 1: on the day they disappeared, light clothing, vests and shorts.

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00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: They carried only Loizana's small backpack with them, suggesting that

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00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 1: whatever walk they were planning was not intended to be

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00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 1: lengthy or arduous. Later that night, Ursull, meaning blue in English,

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Speaker 1: appeared back at the host family's house without Losiana and Chris.

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Speaker 1: The following morning, April second, Feliciano, the guide with whom

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Speaker 1: they supposedly made an appointment with the day before, reported

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Speaker 1: that they never arrived.

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Speaker 2: To meet with him, and so the alarm was raised.

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Speaker 1: Sena PROC, the country's national Civil Protection service, claim they

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Speaker 1: began aerial searches on April third, two days after the

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00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: young women were last seen alive. A ground search begins

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Speaker 1: the day after, but local guides disagree. They claimed that

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Speaker 1: they organized their own groups in those initial twenty four

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Speaker 1: to forty eight hours, and that Sena PROC were not

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00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: involved until April sixth, four days after the young women

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00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,480
Speaker 1: were first reported missing. In any case, once Sena PROC

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00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 1: and a government got involved, it said that volunteers were

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00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: cut out of the search, red tape and bureaucracy seemed

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00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: to suddenly overwhelm the process, as if the Panamanian authorities

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Speaker 1: were keen to preserve the region's tourist reputation at all costs.

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00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: Local tour guide for Liciano is involved in the search However,

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00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,159
Speaker 1: he speaks to the authorities, claims to aid seen a

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00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: PROC for many days, and even meets the women's families

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00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: when they arrive in Bocketa on April sixth, desperate for answers.

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00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 1: Perhaps this is significant, perhaps it is not. When Lesana

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00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,880
Speaker 1: and Chris's parents arrive, they immediately offer a thirty thousand

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00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 1: dollars reward for any information leading to the discovery of

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00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: their daughter's whereabouts. But the reward just seems to complicate things.

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Speaker 1: It is a life changing amount of money, and no

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00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 1: sooner than it's announced, a plethora of tips come flooding in.

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00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 1: Each have to be looked into and followed up on

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00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 1: consumer time and resources, and each tip amounts to very

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00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:10,120
Speaker 1: little or the while. The searches continue, but they are

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00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: messy and poorly coordinated. The women told no one where

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Speaker 1: they were going exactly, and the investigation becomes confused by

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Speaker 1: conflicting eyewitness accounts and changing testimonies. Some groups cone the

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00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: nearby Baru volcano, others continue to search deep into the jungle.

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Speaker 1: On April seventh, a Sena PROC team spends the night

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Speaker 1: in the jungle looking for the women. They call out

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Speaker 1: and use light signals hacking through the pitch black with machetes,

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00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 1: but by midnight they've found nothing. They continue day and

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Speaker 1: night searches, bringing in dogs to help, but all of

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Speaker 1: it is to no avail. By now, the women have

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Speaker 1: been missing for ten days. Seen aproc and the Panamanian

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00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: authorities seem prepared to concede.

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Speaker 2: That they are no match for the jungle.

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Speaker 1: They reduced their search efforts and decrease the resources. The

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Speaker 1: rainy season is imminent and if the search was impossible

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00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 1: during the dry weather patterns, it will be entirely futile

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Speaker 1: in a few days time. A Dutch led attempt sees

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Speaker 1: a new team of dogs and people flown out from

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Speaker 1: the Netherlands, but the rains begin their deluge and the

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00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 1: teams return to the Netherlands frustrated and empty handed. Forlisana

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00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: and Chris's parents, it is an unrelenting nightmare. Their daughters

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Speaker 1: were supposed to return to them. They were not supposed

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Speaker 1: to be here without them. Trapsing through the endless jungle,

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Speaker 1: willing it to give up its secrets, but the jungle

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Speaker 1: does not speak.

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Speaker 2: In the end, they.

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Speaker 1: Too are forced to give up and return home. At night,

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Speaker 1: they are haunted by the endless green, how it swallows

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Speaker 1: sounds and smells, devours the senses. Local guides talk about

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Speaker 1: the madness that can descend when lost in the jungle,

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Speaker 1: when the rains dilute all trace of you, when all

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Speaker 1: the trees look the same, when dusk swiftly descends, and

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Speaker 1: all the many pairs of eyes begin to glow in

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Speaker 1: the gloom. It is so easy to lose your way,

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Speaker 1: It is so hard to find it again. You've been

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Speaker 1: listening to Unexplained, Season seven, episode twelve, The Jungle Never Sleeps.

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Speaker 1: Part one second and final part will be released next Friday,

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Speaker 1: December twenty second. This episode was written by Ella McLoud

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00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:15,560
Speaker 1: and Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained is an Avy Club Productions

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Speaker 1: podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of

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00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me

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00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: Richard mclin smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories

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00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 1: never before featured on the show, is now available to

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00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones,

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00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to get

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Speaker 1: in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories

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00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,719
Speaker 1: you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation

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00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,400
Speaker 1: of your own you'd like to share. You can find

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00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 1: out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reach us

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00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook

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Speaker 1: dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast