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Outlook: Lost in lion country and saved by Spam

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Helene Åberg (left) and Jenny Söderqvist at Gaborone airport

20/05/2024 GMT

Lost in lion country and saved by Spam

BBC World Service - Outlook, Lost in lion country and saved by Spam

Two friends stranded in the desert, only a discarded tin held the key to their escape

Jenny Söderqvist and Helene Åberg spent days stalked by lions after their car exploded in the Kalahari. Their escape would pivot on the unlikeliest of objects: a tin of Spam.

In 2016, when Jenny Söderqvist and Helene Åberg’s car exploded in the middle of the vast Kalahari desert, their supplies and only lifeline to the outside world went up in flames. No rescue would come. The two friends from Sweden would spend the next five harrowing days lost in the wilderness and stalked by lions, until their salvation appeared to them in the most unlikely of forms: a tin of Spam.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Edgar Maddicott

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Helene Åberg (left) and Jenny Söderqvist at Gaborone airport. Credit: Monirul Bhuiyan / Associated Press)

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