Anton Pilipa (born 1978) is a Canadian man who walked over 10,000 miles from his home in Vancouver down to Brazil’s Amazon forest.

Early Life

Pilipa was an anti-poverty campaigner and lived among radical communities in his youth, working all over Canada for humanitarian relief organizations. ^[1]

Disappearance

After being charged with assault and weapons offences in Canada in 2011 and undergoing treatment for schizophrenia, Pilipa vanished in 2012. He had no contact with family or friends for the next five years before being discovered wandering barefoot in the Brazilian state of Rondonia, in the Amazon Rainforest, in 2017. ^[1]

The Journey

He left home with a small bag of belongings but was robbed of everything he owned on several occasions, including his passport. He was helped by kind strangers on his way.

He 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 on his back.

According to family his sole goal was to make it to the National Library of Argentina in Buenos Aires, but he was refused entry because he had no identification. From there he turned North and made his way up to the state of Rondonia, Brazil.

Quite how he managed to travel the mammoth 10,000 miles remains unclear but it seems as though he traveled most of the way on foot as well as hitchhiking. He claimed to have foraged for fruits and berries as well as finding food and clothing in bins. ^[1][2]

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.

Mostly, he kept himself to himself, barely speaking to another human being in five years. He still speaks almost no Spanish or Portuguese.  

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. 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.”

Many details of his journey remain unknown as he has kept a very low profile since his return to Canada.

Discovery

Pilipa was first discovered in November of 2016 by Brazilian police who believed he was homeless and took him into custody. Helenice Vidigal, a Brazilian-Canadian police officer in Rondonia, said: "I  knew he didn't belong to that road. Anton is a different type from us Brazilians, he stands out.”

She began efforts with the Canadian embassy to track down his family but then Pilipa escaped from a hospital he had been taken to and headed into the jungle.

Officer Vidigal said "That is the area where we talk about huge predators like crocodiles and jungle cats. We truly were afraid he could be eaten by one of those animals."

Weeks later he was found again on a highway near Manaus, and the officer found his family through social media.

A successful crowdfunding page raised enough for brother Stefan to fly out to see his brother and bring him home. Upon hearing the news Stefan said, “I was stunned. I told myself that he was dead. Because that was the only thing I could come up with that explained his absence. But in my heart of hearts, I didn't think he could be.“ After seeing Anton he added, "He looked really rough. His healthabsence.

was starting to deteriorate. We got him just^[2][2] in time."

Upon reuniting with his brother, Anton said: "I know that I am very lucky to be alive. I am very happy to be able to return to my family."^[1]