Christmas without Christian

Libby Sutcliffe
BBC News Online

Mr Velten hoped to trace a Scottish explorer's route to the River Niger

Christian Velten was attempting to re-trace the steps of 18th Century explorer Mungo Park when he disappeared in West Africa.

Now nine months since he last contacted home, his parents are still holding on to the hope he will be found alive and are facing Christmas not knowing what has happened to their son.

Mr Velten was copying the route of the Scottish explorer, who was the first Briton to enter the interior of West Africa in search of the River Niger in 1795.

He had left London in February after researching the route for six months and planned to make a documentary about his adventure.

It is just the not knowing which is the worse bit Pauline Velten, mother

He last phoned home on 23 March from Kito in Mali, but a search party sent out to the country in October established sightings of him further up the River Niger in Bamako.

The new sightings meant Mr Velten, who went to university in Edinburgh, had most probably travelled through a hazardous stretch of his journey.

Despite the months going past and the lack of good news, Mrs Velten said she was still holding on to the hope that her son was still alive.

There have been numerous other reported sightings of the 28-year-old, but often they are confused.

People tend to mistake other travellers of different nationalities for him; there is a German man who is also exploring along the river Niger who is sometimes thought to be Mr Velten.

Despite the mix-ups and the tendency for the local people to try to help by telling the search party what they want to hear, every lead is followed up.

Only about two weeks before Christmas a new sighting of Mr Velten was reported just past Timbuktu.

Mrs Velten said: "An Islamic relief lorry driver who had seen all the photos of Christian said he had seen this white male up near Ghourma-Rharous.

'Bandits near the border'

"He had noticed him up there for some months and he knows he goes into the nearest market town to buy tins of sardines and then acts strangely.

"If it is Christian, he has obviously lost his mind or he is ill. It is highly unlikely it is him, but it is something we have to follow up."

A local man, Samake, who aided the first search team would be going to find the man described by the driver as the lead had to be checked out, Mrs Velten said.

She said if it turned out to be her son and he was ill, a doctor would be on hand to help him.

Mrs Velten said the search would continue

The first search party, which consisted of Samake and a private detective as well as one of Mr Velten's friends, returned from Africa in November having had limited success.

Another party, headed by a former police detective superintendent, is preparing to go back to West Africa at the beginning of 2004.

Mrs Velten said although the search for her son had not been incredibly successful, it had not proved unsuccessful either. She said: "We have not had any bad news. We felt sure if he had an accident, if he had come to grief, somebody somewhere would know.

Detective work

"It seems to me he was probably robbed and murdered, but nobody has heard of anything.

"We have even interviewed the prisoners in the local prison, but nothing has so far turned up.

"There have been places where people have been abducted by people living up in the desert and there are bandits near the border of Niger - but none of his possessions had ever been found."

Mrs Velten said they would continue to search until they get a result.

But at a cost of £500 a day, she said it would probably end when resources ran out.

The new search team, headed by Michael Brooker, would be using detective work rather than the tracking method used before.

There is a website about Mr Velten's disappearance

She said they hoped Mr Brooker would turn up some new information.

Until then, Mrs Velten is preparing to spend the first Christmas away from the family home in 22 years, choosing instead to travel to her daughter's in Cornwall.

Her own house near Burwash, East Sussex, is devoid of decorations and the phone is regularly in use with calls about the search.

Mrs Velten said "You are trying to come to terms with the situation which is all you can really do .

"You are always living in hope and it is never off your mind we cannot name here get on with our lives.

"It is just the not knowing which is the worse bit."