Sunday, February 8, 2026
ADVT 
National

Vancouver Man, Missing For 5 Years, Found Wandering In Brazil After Walking Through 10 Countries

Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Feb, 2017 01:29 PM
    A Canadian man who has been missing for five years has been found more than 6,500 miles away in the Amazon jungle.
     
    Anton Pilipa trekked across two continents, walking mostly barefoot with just the clothes on his back, after he disappeared from his Vancouver home in 2012.
     
    His family spent years desperately searching for the former humanitarian worker, who suffers from suspected schizophrenia, and had almost given up hope when they got a call out of the blue.
     
    A Canadian-born Brazilian cop spotted Pilipa, who she initially mistook for a beggar, shuffling down a dirt track in bare feet, and dirty, unwashed Bermuda shorts and a vest. He had no passport and any form of identification.
     
    Incredibly, with help of several international agencies and embassies, she was able to track down his family who flew down to be reunited with their lost loved one.
     
    Anton, who has been placed back on his schizophrenia medication, traveled through at least ten countries from Canada, including the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil - all without a passport and with little more than the clothes in his back.
     
    His brother said he had one bizarre mission; to get to the National Library of Buenos Aires in Argentina. 
     
     
    Tragically, when he finally made it to the library, after walking thousands of miles, he was turned away because he didn't have any identification. So he turned around and began his trek into Brazil where he would eventually be found.  
     
     
    He described how he survived by picking fruits and berries, scrounging for food and clothes in the trash, and relied on the generosity of strangers. 
     
    But that's not to say times weren't tough. Anton started off with a small bag of belongings but was robbed of what little he did have on several occasions during his trek.
     
     
    While walking 800km alone through the dangerous Amazon jungle, filled with poisonous spiders, snakes, caiman - which can grow up to 20ft long and jaguar - all his toenails dropped off.
     
    Yet, while he met some 'bad people' on his incredible 10,000 mile journey, he said he had 'received more generosity, especially in recent times.' 
     
    'I've never felt alone,' he said. 'It's been a lot of thinking for years, sleeping in the open. It's very simple to live, we do not need many things.' 
     
    But after years on the road, Stefan said he was shocked by his brother's appearance.
     
    'He looked pretty rough,' he said after flying out to Manaus last month to collect his brother. 'The rigors of his journey took a toll on his body and face. And he had a lot more hair than last time I saw him.'
     
    The married dad said his brother's health was starting to deteriorate in the Brazilian mental institute where he was being held waiting for his family to collect him.
     
    'We got him just in time.'
     
    'I know that I am very lucky to be alive,' Anton told the BBC. 'I am very happy to be able to return to my family.'
     
    While Anton walked most of the 10,000 mile trip, he would occasionally get a ride or stowaway in a truck.
     
    But mostly, he kept himself to himself, barely speaking to another human being in five years. He still speaks almost no Spanish or Portuguese.  
     
    Anton, who was described as an individualist, was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years ago but his family say they struggled to find him the help he required in the two years before his disappearance.
     
    Before his illness, he had worked all over Canada for humanitarian relief organizations.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    PIC: Family Of Irked Boy At New Brunswick Town Hall To Name Baby After Trudeau

    PIC: Family Of Irked Boy At New Brunswick Town Hall To Name Baby After Trudeau
    Abdel Kader Al Shaikh was photographed covering his hands over his eyes with his head tilted towards the ceiling as he sat in the front row of Trudeau's town hall in Fredericton last week.

    PIC: Family Of Irked Boy At New Brunswick Town Hall To Name Baby After Trudeau

    Cape Breton Park Raising Money For Cage For Bear Cub Found Wandering The Highway

    Cape Breton Park Raising Money For Cage For Bear Cub Found Wandering The Highway
    WHYCOCOMAGH, N.S. — An orphaned black bear cub found wandering alone and pneumonia-stricken on a Cape Breton highway has been nursed back to health.

    Cape Breton Park Raising Money For Cage For Bear Cub Found Wandering The Highway

    Verdict Expected For Calgary Mother Who Treated Sick Son Holistically

    Verdict Expected For Calgary Mother Who Treated Sick Son Holistically
    CALGARY — A woman who treated her son with holistic remedies including dandelion tea and oil of oregano before he died of a strep infection is expected to learn her fate today.

    Verdict Expected For Calgary Mother Who Treated Sick Son Holistically

    Mounties Seize Marijuana, Cash In Chilliwack, B.C., Dial-A-Dope Bust

    Mounties Seize Marijuana, Cash In Chilliwack, B.C., Dial-A-Dope Bust
     Police say an alleged dial-a-dope ring has been shut down in Chilliwack, B.C., and five people have been arrested.

    Mounties Seize Marijuana, Cash In Chilliwack, B.C., Dial-A-Dope Bust

    Allegedly Drugged Driver Hits Cop Car, Overdoses: Vancouver Police

    Allegedly Drugged Driver Hits Cop Car, Overdoses: Vancouver Police
    Vancouver Police are investigating the circumstances leading to a morning collision on Main Street, after an occupied police vehicle was hit by a suspected impaired driver.

    Allegedly Drugged Driver Hits Cop Car, Overdoses: Vancouver Police

    B.C. Premier Christy Clark No Longer Receiving Stipend From Party

    VANCOUVER — British Columbia's premier says she is no longer receiving an annual stipend from her political party because the payment has become a distraction.

    B.C. Premier Christy Clark No Longer Receiving Stipend From Party