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Jungle Woman

Jungle Woman

By Barney Henderson
in Kuala Lumpur


CAMBODIA’S ‘jungle woman’, who spent 18 years living in a dense forest, has fled back to the wild after struggling to adapt to society. Rochom P’ngieng, now 29, first disappeared into thick hilly jungle in 1989 when she was a little girl. She was ‘discovered’ in early 2007 and reunited with her family. However, attempts to reintegrate her have failed. She has not learnt either of the local languages, Khmer or Phnang, prefers to crawl rather than walk, refuses to wear clothes and has made several attempts to return to the forest where she grew up.


Daily Telegraph, 2009