A 49-year-old man who lived completely isolated in the forests in Vietnam with his dad and brother for 41 years had no idea women existed.
According to MetroUK, the extraordinary story of Ho Van Lang, described as ‘real-life Tarzan’ began when his father, Ho Van Thanh fled civilisation with himself and his brother, Tri sons after a US bomb killed their mother and two of his other children during the Vietnam War in 1972.
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Lang’s dad, Ho Van Thanh, had a “profound phobia of returning as he did not believe that the Vietnam War was over”.
The family had to adapt to survive and became competent hunters living off the prey they caught in the jungle, Docastaway reports.
Lang, his brother Tri and his dad resettled deep in the jungle in Tay Tra district of Quang Ngai province.
The trio lived entirely off the wilderness, eating honey, fruit and forest creatures, building shelters and fending for themselves.
When they lived in the jungle, and they only saw five other people over the four decades – and ran away from them each time.
However, eight years ago the trio were ‘rescued’ from their isolated life in the Tay Tra district of Quang Ngai province, and brought to a local village where women also live. Apparently his dad had never explained them to his son.
Alvaro Cerezo, who tracked the family down back in 2015, told news.com.au;
They always escaped when they saw people from a distance. More surprising still is that today, despite being able to distinguish between men and women, he still doesn’t know the essential difference between them.
He stated;
I can confirm that Lang has never had the minimum sexual desire and his reproductive instinct has never shown its head in any of its many facets.
According to Docastaway, Lang is adept in hunting for prey by any means necessary, and can eat and live entirely off the wilderness.
His diet includes fruit, honey, monkey, snake, lizard and frog – and apparently his favourite part of a rat is the head.
His brother, Tri described him as a ‘baby in a man’s body’, adding;
Lang doesn’t understand many basic social concepts,’ he said. ‘Lang has spent his whole life in the jungle.
If I asked Lang to beat someone, he would do it severely. He doesn’t know the difference between good and bad.
Lang is just a child. He doesn’t know anything. Most people know what is good or bad in life, but my brother doesn’t.
His first year out of the jungle was ‘difficult’ as his immune system had to adapt to new bacteria, Cerezo said he’s ‘happily adapting to his new life’ and loved to see ‘animals being friendly with people’ compared to in his past life.
However, apparently his dad still has ‘profound phobia of returning [to normal life] as he did not believe that the Vietnam War was over’ and hopes to return to the jungle one day.
The family are now adapting to a new life in a small Vietnamese village since 2015.
