Video shows remote cannibal tribe where explorer vanished while studying them

A courageous camera crew has visited the infamous island where the son of a US vice president went missing, which is said to be home to a remote cannibal tribe.

While people love to travel to unknown places and explore different cultures, there are plenty of places on the planet that should probably be avoided, and I'm not just talking about the countries on the do not travel list.

Remote islands can often be incredibly dangerous as the people that live there often do so without modern technology or laws, which saw one American man killed with a bow and arrow after he approached the world's most isolated tribe in an attempt to teach them about God.

Another so-called travel influencer was arrested earlier this year when visiting the North Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese people, after allegedly leaving a can of coke there for them to find.

But that was a far better fate than Michael Rockefeller, the son of 41st vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who went missing and was presumed dead after his visit to a remote region in New Guinea back in 1961.

What happened to Michael Rockefeller?

Rockefeller was travelling to the Asmat region of Southwestern Papua alongside anthropologist René Wassing when their canoe capsized around three miles from the shore.

While Wassing decided to remain at sea and wait for another boat, Rockefeller was determined to make it to shore, but he was never seen again.

Theories about Rockefeller's death include drowning and cannibalism (President and Fellows of Harvard University; Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology)

Extensive searches were carried out for the 23-year-old but he was legally declared dead three years later in 1964, although his remains were never recovered.

Although his twin sister Mary had suggested that he had likely been overambitious in his aims to swim three miles to shore and had drowned, others speculate that he could have been eaten by the Asmat people, who were known for their cannibalistic rituals.

What does the video show?

Given the island's history, you wouldn't blame people for never wanting to visit again, but documentary makers from Sliced headed there back in 2022 for a groundbreaking video.

The video shows the Asmat tribe's way of life, in which they have never tended the lend, but hunt and fish for their food. Women are responsible for doing the fishing, while the men stand guard.

A narrator in the documentary clip says: "Although the Asmat are no longer threatened by surprise attacks, they have kept their traditional distribution of tasks. The men defend the territory, while the women are responsible for the family's sustenance."

Men move in with their wives and their families after marriage, with weddings also including the traditional tribute of killing a cassowary bird.

However, the video also explains that the men no longer go head hunting, which is where they would brutally sever the head of a rival and sometimes even eat it for show.

Ambrose was interviewed in the documentary (Sliced)

Ambrose, one of the Asmat people interviewed in the documentary, said he feels their dead ancestors are 'furious' with them for stopping head hunting as 'their deaths are no longer avenged'.

What are the last known words of Michael Rockefeller?

We may perhaps never know what happened to young Michael over 60 years ago on his visit to the island, but his last words proved to be tragic, given the eventual circumstances.

After their boat capsized, he simply told his travelling buddy: "I think I can make it", before never being seen again.