The Last Wild Men of Borneo

Two modern adventurers sought a treasure possessed by the legendary “Wild Men of Borneo.” One found riches. The other vanished forever into an endless jungle. Had he shed civilization—or lost his mind? Global headlines suspected murder. Carl Hoff-man journeyed to find the truth, discovering that nothing is as it seems in the world’s last Eden.

In 1984, Swiss traveler Bruno Manser journeyed to Borneo, the planet’s third largest island. There he lived for years with the Dayak people, the fabled “headhunters of Borneo,” gaining acceptance as a member of the tribe, and leading their battle against commercial logging. Then, in 2000, Bruno disappeared without a trace. Had he become a madman, a hermit, or a martyr?

American Michael Palmieri is, in many ways, Bruno’s opposite. After evading the Vietnam War, he staged expeditions into the Bornean jungle to acquire astonishing art and artifacts from the Dayaks. He would become one of the world’s most successful tribal-art collectors, supplying sacred works to museums and private collectors. But was he preserving or exploiting native culture?

The Last Wild Men of Borneo is a peerless adventure propelled by the entwined lives of two singular, enigmatic men whose stories reveal both the grandeur and the precarious fate of the wildest place on earth.