He lived more than 40 years in the jungle far from society: "I didn't know women existed"
Do you remember the exploits of Tarzan, or the adventures of Mowgli in The Jungle Book? The thing that united these fictional characters was that they both lived in the forest, in contact with Nature, its beauties but also its pitfalls, and that they new nothing of civilization and all the technologies of modern society. Story stuff for kids but in the case of Ho Van Lang it really happened: this Vietnamese man is now 49 years old but has lived for 41 years in the Asian jungle with his father, far from everything and everyone.
via India Times
It all started back in 1972, when a US miltary bomb struck an area of Vietnam and killed the local population; among the people who did not make it there was also the family of Ho Van Thanh, the father of Ho Van Lang, who fled into the Vietnamese forest together with the only survivor of the bomb, his son. When the child was rescued by his father, he was only two years old, and he did not know that he would be living away from the world and society for 41 years, alone with his father ...
Ho Van Lang lived with his father well over 40 years in the dense forest of Quang Ngai, coming into very close contact with everything that Mother Nature offered them: just think that father and son wore loincloths made from tree bark, they hunted different wild animals for meat, gathered fruit and made bonfires to warm and light up in the darkest nights. All this in total isolation from any kind of advanced civilization.
Then in 2013, some villagers on the edge of the forest, found the father and son wandering in the dense bush and offered to help them and give them a home away from the dangers of wild animals and natural hazards. At the beginning it was hard for father and son, especially for the first, but over time Ho Van Lang has learned to use and appreciate some of the "inventions" of modern society, all elements that we now take too much for granted: cars, appliances, light bulbs and so on!
Ho Van Lang also stated that at first he couldn't even distinguish men from women: he had entered the forest when he was only two years old and had stayed there for 41 years, it was quite understandable that he didn't know the difference between a male and a female!
Now, it's been over eight years since Ho Van Lang was "freed" from his personal jungle yet, as the 49-year-old man has said more than once, he is still trying to adapt to all the novelty and change, the "oddities" of technology and contemporary society.
It certainly won't be easy, but try living in a forest for over 40 years, surrounded by the fruits and creatures of Mother Nature: we wouldn't blame you if modern life seemed strange!
