A WOMAN whose kidnapped mum was raised by monkeys like a “female Tarzan” has now quit her life in the UK to follow in her footsteps.
Vanessa Forero, 40, grew up in Bradford but knew her mother was very different from others from a young age.
Vanessa JamesVanessa Forero (left) has decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps[/caption]
Instagram / @vanessaforeromusicVanessa, pictured here with her mother Marina Chapman, has moved into the jungle of Colombia[/caption]
Vanessa JamesMarina Chapman, was kidnapped and dumped in the Colombian jungle when she was five[/caption]
Vanessa’s mum, Marina Chapman was just four when she claims she was snatched from outside her home in Colombia and left to rot in a jungle.
Though she has virtually no memory of her life before being in the wild, she can vividly recall her time spent there.
She claims she was raised by white-faced capuchins who were her only company for five years, learning how to forage and climb trees thanks to her primate pals.
Marina even claims to have learnt how to make a bed in the tree using branches to sleep at night by copying the monkeys.
Aged 10, she was found by hunters and sold to a brothel before being thrown out for being too feral.
In her adulthood, Marina eventually made it to England, where she married a civil servant and had her children – Vanessa and Joanna – in West Yorkshire.
Now former TV jingle composer Vanessa is reliving some of her mum’s experiences, albeit in far nicer surroundings.
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.
Speaking from her remote lodge in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Vanessa feels she is finally where she belongs, the Mirror reports.
Speaking to Ben Fogle for the latest series of ‘New Lives in the Wild’, airing on Channel 5 tonight, she said: “I always decorated my room at home with images of nature and mountains.”
She added: “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.
“Joanna [her sister] came out more like Dad. She works as a civil servant, married with three kids living in Leeds. I was like Mum – born with jungle feet and twigs in my hair.”
She and a friend travelled across the country ending up in Minca, a tiny mountain town, nestled in the jungle.
But then came Covid lockdowns, forcing her to stay.
She added: “That’s when I got a call to say the flat had fallen through.
“I was told I was probably not going to get another mortgage because my income was unpredictable.”
Vanessa spent three years building her home but, unlike her mum, doesn’t have to forage for nuts and has the luxury of wi-fi.
She grows crops and eats bananas, passion fruit and guava for breakfast.
And although she has access to the best coffee in the world, Vanessa still has a big supply of Yorkshire Tea.
Despite growing up in Bradford, Vanessa still spotted signs of her mum’s unusual upbringing.
Vanessa recalls how her mother, Marina Chapman, would be perched in a tree waving as the final bell rung for the day in primary school while other parents stood around nattering.
She said: “I knew other mums didn’t do that.
“But that was just mum. My playful mum.
“She loved the outdoors, creating obstacle courses in the back garden, making monkey noises, climbing trees.
“Our pets were animals that my mum caught for us – we had a couple of wild rabbits that eventually escaped and a seagull.”
As for Marina, she initially feared her daughter was making a mistake. “I felt uneasy at first because I never felt Colombia’s easy… or safe,” she tells Ben.
“But I’m not worried anymore. She won’t get in a mess. She’s smart and I’m very proud of her.”
Marina’s childhood has had a lasting impact, and even now she finds things like using gadgets and eating slowly hard.
She has since written a book about her time with the monkeys, called The Girl with No Name.
AlamyIt’s thought Marina lived with capuchin monkeys, which would have looked like the ones pictured[/caption]
Marina said she learnt how to forage and climb trees thanks to her primate pals Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
