American OK after 40 days alone in desert Was on quest for solitude in Australia

An American man was found Monday after wandering alone for 40 daysin Australia's Great Sandy Desert.

Robert Bogucki, 33, of Fairbanks, Alaska, said he had set out on aquest for solitude and spiritual fulfillment. He was spotted by atelevision crew in a helicopter in the rugged Edgar Ranges innorthwest Australia.

Bogucki said he used his meager water supply, drawn from a muddypool, to make eucalyptus tea and nibbled on bush flowers. His desertodyssey took him more than 250 miles, often barefoot, across some ofthe most arid and unforgiving outback in Australia.

An earlier monthlong hunt for him had been called off after policeconcluded that he was dead.

"Before I started I did not really know what I was looking for,"Bogucki said Monday. "I just wanted to spend a while on my own, justnobody else around, and make peace with God, I guess. I do feelsatisfied that I have scratched that itch, whatever that was, thatsent me out there in the first place."

Police expressed relief that he was alive, but were critical ofhis decision to undertake such a perilous quest. An investigationwas ordered into whether he eluded searchers deliberately.

Bogucki had been on a bicycling vacation with his girlfriend,Janet North, when he set off alone by bicycle early last month,telling her that he needed to test his survival skills andspirituality.

A search involving police, aircraft and Aboriginal trackers beganJuly 26, when his rucksack and bicycle were found abandoned. Policelater found a postcard dated July 13, sent to his parents in Malibu,Calif., informing them of his plan to ride across the desert. Heabandoned his bicycle after only 20 miles, and for the next fourweeks the only signs of him were a few footprints. Police called offtheir search Aug. 9.

The search was revived last week with the arrival of an Americansearch team. The eight-member 1st Special Response Group from Miamiset out Thursday with three dogs to look for Bogucki.

Hopes that he may still be alive were revived with the discoveryof fresh footprints, believed to be only two days old. On Sunday,the searchers found a makeshift campsite and a bundle of abandonedbelongings.

Wayne Waller, a cameraman on the helicopter that spotted him, saidBogucki had been "very happy" to be found. "He was just sort ofwandering around aimlessly. He was bewildered. He was very, verytired."

Sgt. Eddie Clouter of the Broome police said Bogucki was in goodphysical and mental condition but would remain at Broome DistrictHospital overnight for observation.

"He's fine, a bit dehydrated, but that's about all," Clouter said."He's got a few scratches on him, as you would expect, and obviouslyhe's tired. But for someone who's been wandering around the desertfor that long, he's doing pretty well."

Bogucki, asked if he ever would repeat his journey, said: "Oh, no.This is a once in a lifetime thing for me."

Contributing: Guardian, Associated Press