The child wandered away from a seaside camping site at the Engure parish at about 7.30 p.m. on Sunday after toying with other toddlers in a sandbox.
His mother had gone to wash the dishes, and couldn't find the boy upon return.
At night a hunter said he'd heard a child crying in the forest, and the rescue operation was immediately turned that way.
After a footprint was found in the sand some two kilometers away from the camping, the child was ultimately discovered at 6.20 a.m. lying face down in moss near a road.
The child had numerous mosquito bites and was apparently very worried, however he did not have to be hospitalized and is now with his family.