Meet the ‘real Tarzan’: Forest parkour athlete swings topless through jungles and runs up 60-metre-high trees – using his bare feet as hands
Swing topless through the jungle and climb trees barefoot up to 60 meters high in seconds.
It’s a daily routine for Leopald Hurbin, an outdoor enthusiast who is sometimes called a real Tarzan.
The 30-year-old Frenchman, also known as Leo Urban, practices ‘primal parkour’, a sport that sees him running, jumping and swinging through forests in breathtaking acrobatic ways, as seen on his Instagram feed.
Videos of seemingly death-defying stunts he has posted have gotten him @leo.urban has almost two million followers.
Leo grew up in the mountains of Andorra and has been practicing parkour and climbing for almost 20 years. He travels the world to climb trees with only his bare hands and feet. He spends most of his time in nature, traveling the world and climbing trees wearing only pants or shorts.
Leo Urban is a practitioner of ‘primal parkour’, which involves running, jumping and swinging through forests in breathtaking acrobatic ways. He is pictured above atop a 40-metre-high pine tree in the Bialowieza Forest in Poland.
Leo grew up in the mountains of Andorra and has been practicing parkour and climbing for almost 20 years. Leo is pictured above climbing a 60 meter high tree in Sumatra, Indonesia
Leo, who has been nicknamed ‘humanzee’, spoke to MailOnline Travel about his ‘primal’ pursuits. He told us about his favourite climbing spots, why monkeys inspire him to go barefoot and a particularly terrifying moment when he fell out of a tree in Indonesia.
Leo took up parkour and climbing in 2007 as a way to ‘reconnect’ with his confidence and ‘try something free’ with his friends. He climbs in both urban and natural environments, with his highest free climb ever being the 209 metre high Tour Montparnasse – a skyscraper in Paris.
Although he can climb well in both environments, Leo prefers to climb trees, which he calls “nature’s skyscrapers.”
He said, “The sensations, from the flies and mosquitoes biting you to the direct contact with matter, it’s much more powerful to walk and climb in the footsteps of animals. It’s more exciting than buildings or rocks.”
And he always climbs barefoot, because it gives him a “better grip.” He explained: “Monkeys don’t have shoes, so the idea is to use feet as hands.”
Leo’s training time varies greatly depending on where he is in the world, and can range from two hours to nine hours. “There’s no routine,” he said. “Just like animals don’t have one.
Leo started doing parkour and climbing in 2007 as a way to ‘reconnect’ with his confidence and ‘try something free’ with his friends. He is pictured above in the rainforest on Sumatra
Leo always climbs barefoot because he has ‘better grip’. He explained: ‘Monkeys don’t have shoes, so the idea is to use feet as hands’
‘One day a cheetah can go hunting and come back empty-handed, and the next day [the cheetah] brings back three preys. It’s all the same. It’s all about intuition and feeling.’
Leo said he incorporates fear into his training. While he admits he often feels scared, he said it helps him “progress” and connect with his “primitive, animalistic, adrenaline side.”
Leo explained how he feels before a climb, saying: ‘It’s always a state of stress, uncertainty and fear. You ask yourself a lot of questions. Are you going to die, is it worth it, and so on.
‘And then, during the climb, all those doubts and fears disappear and make way for action and concentration.
‘If you succeed, you will feel reborn. [It’s] an indescribable feeling that you will never forget.’
Leo has explored everything from Indonesian islands and European forests to African deserts during his climbing adventures. His most ‘extraordinary’ climb took place in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
Leo’s training time ‘varies greatly’ depending on where he is in the world, and can range from two hours to nine hours. Leo is pictured above in a forest in Andorra
Leo said he incorporates fear into his training. While he admits he often feels scared, he said it helps him “progress.” Leo is pictured above in Sumatra
Leo said he “rarely” suffers injuries that prevent him from training, with his last serious injury being over 10 years ago. Leo is pictured in the images above swinging through the Bialowieza Forest in Poland
Of all the places he has visited, Sumatra, a large Indonesian island, is his favourite climbing spot because of the ‘gigantic’ trees, the network of vines and the opportunity to jump.
One of his ‘craziest experiences’ was living with the Mentawi tribe on Siberut Island. Leo described his experience as follows: ‘I saw real men and women from the forest. It was fascinating to see them hunting and climbing trees.
‘It’s as much of an inspiration to me as looking at big animals.’
Despite climbing daily, Leo says he “rarely” suffers injuries that prevent him from training, with his last serious injury occurring more than 10 years ago.
However, he did have a near-accident in Sumatra, when he jumped from a 25 to 30 meter high tree to a branch slightly lower.
Explaining how he feels before a climb, Leo said: ‘It’s always a state of stress, uncertainty and fear.’ He is pictured above in a pine forest in Andorra.
Leo said: ‘What I like most about climbing is the freedom.’ He said that climbing ‘makes you stronger both physically and mentally.’ He is pictured above in Andorra
He explained: ‘I fell a few metres before I managed to hold on to the tree below with one hand, which was quite spectacular. It was quite violent and the biggest shock to me.’
Although Leo’s climbing skills have received mixed reviews, he claims the practice has “countless” benefits.
“What I like most about climbing is the freedom. The ability to go further every time and push your own limits,” he said.
Above all, he said, climbing offers a chance to “free yourself” and “reconnect with your primal self.” “It makes you stronger both physically and mentally,” he said.
To see more of Leo, follow him on Instagram here And TikTok on www.tiktok.com/@leo.urban.primal. Or visit his website here.
