Real-life Tarzan, Ho Van Lang who lived in the jungle with his father for over 40 years, and just returned to 'civilisation' 8 years ago, died on Monday, of liver cancer. Ho Van Lang passed away at the age of 53 due to the illness after over 40 years in complete isolation in the deep forest of the Tay Tra district in Quang Ngai province, after fleeing the Vietnam war with his father and brother.
Reports state that Lang's father Ho Van Thanh fled civilisation with his sons after a US bomb killed his wife and two of his other children during the Vietnam War in 1972. The three of them then lived entirely off the wilderness, eating honey, fruit, and forest creatures, building shelters, and fending for themselves. But in 2013 the trio was 'rescued' from their isolated life and brought to a local village where women also live.
It was in 2015 that Alvaro Cerezo, managing director of Docastaway, which offers holidays to remote, uninhabited parts of the world, met the family and said, "They always escaped when they saw people from a distance. As Lang's father had a profound phobia of returning [to civilisation] as he did not believe that the Vietnam War was over."
He added, "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. 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."
About his first meeting with Lang, Cerezo had said that Lang does not understand many basic social concepts as he 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," Cerezo said.
