Sabine Kuegler - Child of the Jungle.

 Sabine Kuegler - Child of the Jungle

⭐⭐⭐⭐

In 1980 seven-year-old Sabine Kuegler and her family went to live in a remote jungle area of West Papua among the recently discovered Fayu - a tribe untouched by modern civilisation. Her childhood was spent hunting, shooting poisonous spiders with arrows and exploring the jungle. Later, aged seventeen, she goes to a boarding school in Switzerland - a traumatic change for a girl who acts and feels like one of the Fayu. 'Fear is something I learnt here' she says. 'In the Lost Valley, with a lost tribe, I was happy. In the rest of the world it was I who was lost.'

▪️

This book is an astonishing true story. I read it for the first time ten years ago and was impressed by it, and re-reading it now did the same again. Sabine's story is remarkable and she tells it in a way that makes you think you are right there in the jungle with her. But you shouldn't think that this book is all about happily living in the jungle. The world can be cruel in the jungle too, and after spending her childhood so closed off from civilization the return to Europe is extremely hard for Sabine. I can't help but to wonder why her parents didn't prepare her more to this struggle

▪️

I highly recommend this book to everyone who is interested in different cultures and nature, especially jungles. I also recommend to read Sabine's other book, call of the jungle, after this one. She has also written third book but unfortunately that hasn't been translated to English yet.

▪️