Kidnap and Escape

I have done my best to make this as accurate as possible - as I get more information I will make corrections. This is continued from Part I - The Kidnapping.

The expedition team had been captured Sunday afternoon leaving Sunday evening to be a real nail-biter for the folks back here in Orlando. Outside of a satellite phone call that Mickey placed to Noga over the protests of the kidnappers - there was no other correspondence from either the team or the kidnappers. What the kidnappers were learning was that kidnapping Mickey is like grabbing a tiger by the tail. Anyone who knows his also knows this. He continued filming while they told him not to, he used the satellite phone, and by Monday - he and the team had set up camp while the kidnappers kept a sage distance (of about 300 feet) from the encampment.

Members of the tribe that captured Mickey

Meanwhile - back in the US and Israel, plans for the rescue were underway. The coordination had led to a plan. The message sent using the Delorme Device was at this location

https://explore.delorme.com/textmessage/viewmsg?mo=e621e8b2311142e8ad9e90965e599e1b814320

Here is a map of the crew and kidnapper movements during this time.

Because of the road access, and the fact that we had a satellite signal, a team was able to get to the location and determine that Mickey and crew were in fact at the same location. Late Monday evening a car was sent from the oil company to the location. Two representatives spoke with the tribe holding Mickey, and while they were leaving they spoke in English (which the tribe does not understand) - to be at a set of coordinates on the road at 4 AM for extraction.

Mickey in Captivity

Mickey has this effect on me too.

This would lead Mickey to start planning a daring night escape. Instead of unpacking gear on Monday evening, the team kept everything in their packs. They planned to use hammocks to sleep (which is common). At 2:30 AM using night vision goggles and infrared night equipment that was packed for the expedition - Mickey and team left camp and slowly and quietly made their way to the location on the road. For those of you who might have had the experience of navigating through the jungle to find a spot on a road at night, while sneaking past guards and wearing a 50 pound pack - this is not an easy task.

Once at the car - the team was driven all the way to Rio Napo where they were greeted by representatives of the government, and others. We will have more stories and footage later - but for now the team is safe and is planning on being taken to Cononaco near the border with Peru to continue the expedition. And, while this gets them past the territory where they might be kidnapped by tribes in Ecuador - they will have an entirely new set of challenges facing them ahead.