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'Mum was raised by monkeys in the jungle – she copied their eating habits and cries'
Vanessa Forero's mum Marina Chapman had a bizarre and harrowing upbringing after being kidnapped, sold to trafficking gangs and abandoned in a Colombian rainforest where she was 'raised by monkeys'
A woman whose mum was kidnapped and abandoned in a rainforest and raised by monkeys has swapped her average UK life for a taste of what her parent experienced.
Vanessa Forero's mum Marina Chapman – a housewife who was born in Colombia – was kidnapped aged four by trafficking gangs and abandoned in the rainforest where she claimed she was raised by white-faced capuchin monkeys.
Aged 10 she was found by hunters and sold to a brothel before being thrown out for being too feral. Years later, on a trip to the UK, Marina fell in love with a man she met in church. They would go on to get married and have two daughters Vanessa, now 40, and Joanna, 43, from Bradford.
After the end of her own 15-year marriage, Vanessa left the UK to set up home in the same type of Colombian jungle where Marina claimed to have lived like a female Tarzan, the Mirror reports.
Speaking from her remote lodge in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Vanessa told the Mirror feels she is finally where she belongs. She says: “I always decorated my room at home with images of nature and mountains.
“My cousin would laugh at me and say I wanted to run off into the jungle. And now she’s like, ‘Oh my God, you actually did’. “Mum doesn’t like that I’m here – and so far away from her.
"But at the same time, she can see why I am here. This is the first time I’ve felt a feeling of home and belonging. And the monkeys do come around.
"They howl a lot in the trees. They are really loud. I’ve also got a big cat somewhere."
Marina, now 73, told her own story in 2013 book The Girl With No Name. She claims she was snatched in 1954, when child-trafficking gangs were commonplace in Colombia.
“I saw a hand cover my mouth – a black hand in a white hanky,” Marina previously said. “Then I realised there were two people taking me away.” For reasons that are unclear she was later dumped in the rainforest.
After around two days she says she saw a troop of capuchins and began copying them to survive. She would watch which nuts and berries they ate, catch bananas they dropped and drink from their watering holes.
Eventually – as she began to walk on all fours and stopped talking – the monkeys began to accept her.
She says: “One day one of the younger ones landed on my shoulders and, if you’ve never been hugged and this animal puts their hands on your face, I tell you it’s the nicest touch.” She was there for around five years until she was found by hunters.
Daily Star Sunday
Vanessa Forero's mum Marina Chapman had a bizarre and harrowing upbringing after being kidnapped, sold to trafficking gangs and abandoned in a Colombian rainforest where she was 'raised by monkeys'
A woman whose mum was kidnapped and abandoned in a rainforest and raised by monkeys has swapped her average UK life for a taste of what her parent experienced.
Vanessa Forero's mum Marina Chapman – a housewife who was born in Colombia – was kidnapped aged four by trafficking gangs and abandoned in the rainforest where she claimed she was raised by white-faced capuchin monkeys.
Aged 10 she was found by hunters and sold to a brothel before being thrown out for being too feral. Years later, on a trip to the UK, Marina fell in love with a man she met in church. They would go on to get married and have two daughters Vanessa, now 40, and Joanna, 43, from Bradford.
After the end of her own 15-year marriage, Vanessa left the UK to set up home in the same type of Colombian jungle where Marina claimed to have lived like a female Tarzan, the Mirror reports.
Speaking from her remote lodge in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Vanessa told the Mirror feels she is finally where she belongs. She says: “I always decorated my room at home with images of nature and mountains.
“My cousin would laugh at me and say I wanted to run off into the jungle. And now she’s like, ‘Oh my God, you actually did’. “Mum doesn’t like that I’m here – and so far away from her.
"But at the same time, she can see why I am here. This is the first time I’ve felt a feeling of home and belonging. And the monkeys do come around.
"They howl a lot in the trees. They are really loud. I’ve also got a big cat somewhere."
Marina, now 73, told her own story in 2013 book The Girl With No Name. She claims she was snatched in 1954, when child-trafficking gangs were commonplace in Colombia.
“I saw a hand cover my mouth – a black hand in a white hanky,” Marina previously said. “Then I realised there were two people taking me away.” For reasons that are unclear she was later dumped in the rainforest.
After around two days she says she saw a troop of capuchins and began copying them to survive. She would watch which nuts and berries they ate, catch bananas they dropped and drink from their watering holes.
Eventually – as she began to walk on all fours and stopped talking – the monkeys began to accept her.
She says: “One day one of the younger ones landed on my shoulders and, if you’ve never been hugged and this animal puts their hands on your face, I tell you it’s the nicest touch.” She was there for around five years until she was found by hunters.
Daily Star Sunday