Angelo Valkenborg had it all – a good job, a marriage, and a nice home, but at one point in his life, he realised that none of that made him truly happy. So the 31-year-old Belgian left his old life behind and moved to a forest in Slovenia to live like a hunter-gatherer.
“I was stuck in a system that I did not belong to,” Angelo explains. At some point, the bubble burst and he realised that there was more… Out there, somewhere. “I realised that this is an essential part of who I am and what I truly enjoy doing,” he says. “That led me to a point that I would stop my job, sell my house and all my belongings and give away a lot of my clothing.”
Today, Angelo lives bushcraft instead of just occasionally practicing it. His life is all about going into the wild and becoming fully self-reliant. He moved to a forest in Slovenia where he managed to build his own hut and tools. He gathers berries, nettles and frogs for meals, but he gets his supply of meat from a local village because hunting without a license is considered poaching. Despite having studied survival skills for over four years, Angelo says that he still makes mistakes. “It is anything but simple,” he said. “But I am so happy.”
