With confidence in Nigerian authorities completely eroded, local residents have reportedly pooled money for motorcycles to head into the forest in search of the girls missing since last month’s abduction, as well those who have been abducted since. Homes to wild animals 
 
 To Mohammed Bagoni, it is a forest where elephants used to stray in from Central Africa through some game reserve corridors. To some people in Maiduguri, the Sambisa is a real forest game reserve located not far from the state capital. It harbours a sizable population of wildlife, typical of savannah habitats worldwide and a conducive environment for animals such as monkeys, antelopes, lions, elephants, as well as bird species such as Ostrich, Bustard and a lot of those migrating species.There is no Sambisa without the sustaining Game Reserve for hunters and farmers. Master of the environment 
 
 Members of Boko Haram are well knowledgeable about the enormous endowment of the Sambisa Forest and have capitalised on the fact that even if military tanks must be moved into the place to dislodge them, it must be done with knowledge and tactics. They will finally end up in Sambisa or Algoni, the two most dreaded bases remaining for the managers of the nation’s security to bring down 
 
 “It actually took the intelligence services a long time to discover that the game reserve had become a hideout for the sect. “They waited three years until several lives had been lost before acting reluctantly on the intelligence advises … As a matter of fact, Sambisa is not the only hideout of the insurgents.” 
 
 The young hostages will be tactically transported from one base to another, typically during the cover of nightfall, to avoid detection, the source added. The forest is believed to have super bunkers underneath the Sahel so that the new tenants (Boko Haram) will be well placed to complete their aim of taking over all the government houses in the north east after bringing down the few military installations created years back to protect the people of this region.
– Boko Haram has a tactical advantage: The Muslim extremist group suspected of kidnapping Nigerian girls is hiding out in old military bunkers, in an enormous forest where vegetation grows as high as six feet, Fox News reports. What's more, the 23,000-square-mile Sambisa Forest is teeming with poisonous snakes (two girls have apparently died of snakebites, and 20 are ill) and hosts varied wildlife including monkeys, antelopes, and lions, reports the Guardian. The wilderness was once a grazing grounds for elephants, whose thick skin could tolerate the thorny vegetation—but without cutlasses, it can be impenetrable to human visitors. "It actually took the intelligence services a long time to discover that the game reserve had become a hideout for the sect," a source tells the Nation. Only after three years and the loss of "several lives" did services come around, but now agents "are not ready to risk their lives any more after all the frustration." National police offered a $300,000 reward today for information leading to the girls' rescue, and the US has sent a team to help, but the Guardian notes that even the use of tanks wouldn't give authorities a clear tactical advantage. Meanwhile, Boko Haram is said to be moving the girls at night, possibly to a second base outside the forest.