EXCLUSIVEMeet the 'real-life Tarzan': Forest parkour athlete swings through jungles topless and races up 200ft trees - using his bare feet like hands
- Leo Urban travels all over the world to scale trees using his bare hands and feet
- Videos of his death-defying stunts have earned him 2 million Instagram followers
- READ MORE: British explorer's 3,500-mile journey across North America
Swinging through jungles topless and climbing trees up to 60 metres (196ft) high in mere seconds – barefooted.
All in a day's work for Leopald Hurbin – an outdoor athlete who's been dubbed a real-life Tarzan.
The 30-year-old Frenchman, also known as Leo Urban, is a practitioner of 'primal parkour', which involves running, jumping and swinging around forests in a breathtakingly acrobatic fashion, as his Instagram feed shows.
Videos of seemingly death-defying bold stunts he's posted have earned his @leo.urban account almost two million followers.
Leo grew up in the mountains of Andorra and has been practising parkour and climbing for nearly 20 years, travelling all over the world to scale trees using just his bare hands and feet. He spends most of his time surrounded by nature, travelling all over the world and scaling trees dressed only in a pair of trousers or shorts.
Leo Urban is a practitioner of 'primal parkour', which involves running, jumping and swinging around forests in a breathtakingly acrobatic fashion. He's 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 nearly 20 years. Leo is pictured above climbing a 60-metre-high tree in Sumatra, Indonesia
Leo, who has also gained the nickname 'humanzee', spoke to MailOnline Travel about his 'primal' pursuits, revealing his favourite places to climb, why monkeys inspire him to be barefoot, and one very scary moment falling from a tree in Indonesia.
Leo began parkour and climbing in 2007 as a way to 'reconnect' with his confidence and 'try something freely' with his friends. He climbs in both urban and natural settings, with his highest-ever free climb being the 209-metre Tour Montparnasse - a skyscraper in Paris.
While he's a well-versed climber in both environments, Leo prefers to climb trees, which he refers to as 'nature's skyscrapers'.
He said: 'The sensations, from the flies and mosquitoes that bite 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 as it gives him a 'better grip'. He explained: 'Monkeys don't have shoes, so the idea is to use feet like hands.'
Leo's training times 'vary enormously', depending on where he is in the world, and can range from two hours to nine hours. 'There's no routine,' he said. 'Just as animals don't have one.
Leo began parkour and climbing in 2007 as a way to 'reconnect' with his confidence and 'try something freely' with his friends. He's pictured above in the rainforest in Sumatra
Leo always climbs barefoot as it gives him a 'better grip'. He explained: 'Monkeys don't have shoes, so the idea is to use feet like hands'
'One day a cheetah can go out hunting and come back empty-handed, and the next day [the cheetah] brings back three prey. 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 this helps him 'progress' and connect to his 'primitive, animal and adrenaline side'.
Explaining how he feels before a climb, Leo said: 'It's always a state of stress, uncertainty and fear. You ask yourself a lot of questions. Whether you're going to die, whether it's worth it, and so on.
'And then, during the ascent, all these doubts and fears fade away to make way for action and concentration.
'Once you've succeeded, you feel reborn again. [It's] an indescribable sensation that stays with you forever.'
Leo has explored everywhere from Indonesian islands, forests in Europe and deserts in Africa on his primal climbing pursuits, with his most 'extraordinary' climb being in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
Leo's training times 'vary enormously', 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 this helps him 'progress'. Leo is pictured above in Sumatra
Leo said he 'rarely' sustains injuries that prevent him from training, with his last significant injury being over 10 years ago. Leo is pictured in the above images swinging through the Bialowieza Forest in Poland
Out of all the places he's visited, he said Sumatra, a large Indonesian island, is his favourite place to climb due to the 'gigantic' trees, vine network and opportunity to jump.
One of his 'craziest experiences' was living with the Mentawi tribe on Siberut Island. Describing his experience, Leo said: 'I was able to see real men and women of the forest. It was fascinating to see them hunting and climbing trees.
'It's as much a source of inspiration for me as watching big animals.'
Despite climbing daily, Leo said he 'rarely' sustains injuries that prevent him from training, with his last significant injury being over 10 years ago.
He did, however, experience a near miss in Sumatra while jumping from a 25 to 30-metre-high (98ft) tree to a branch slightly lower down.
Explaining how he feels before a climb, Leo said: 'It's always a state of stress, uncertainty and fear.' He's shown above in a pine forest in Andorra
Leo said: 'What I love the most about climbing is the freedom.' He said climbing 'makes you stronger both physically and mentally'. He's pictured above in Andorra
He explained: 'I fell a few metres before catching myself in the tree below with one hand, which was quite spectacular. It was quite violent and my biggest scare.'
While the reaction Leo's climbing received is varied, he claimed there are 'numerous' advantages to the practice.
'What I love the most about climbing is the freedom. The ability to go further each time and push back against 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 from Leo, follow him on Instagram here and TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@leo.urban.primal. Or visit his website here.