Edgar Rice Burroughs followed no rules when he wrote the book that turned a generation towards the glories of the jungle. Tarzan, the folk hero he created, did more than grip readers with awe. He stirred a yearning for the woods in many.
Tarzan still swings in the modern imagination. For Victor Manuel, that swing is not fantasy but a life philosophy.
“Imbibe the spirit of the woods, the way life moved there — slow, steady, surgically sharp,” says Victor, whose ‘Tarzan Movement’ seeks to evoke the primate humans left behind as time flew by.
The Cuban-born adventurer has travelled widely with this wellness mantra, aiming to draw people closer to nature. And he is in Thiruvananthapuram as part of a Kerala detour from Goa.
“Our natural instincts remain hugely clouded, and that’s why we feel disconnected with nature,” says the 37-year-old, who organises ‘Tarzan Movement’ retreats, workshops and one-to-one sessions.
“My commitment to the human race is to help it rediscover that connection so that they would feel less a stranger to themselves.”
At the core of his philosophy, of course, is tree climbing. Victor views it as a way of syncing with nature. “To me, the tree is a universe in itself,” he says, his body swaying to a rhythm known only to him.
“I want everyone to feel this — the way I did as a child running away from the vagaries of the crowd I was surrounded with.”
Taking a break from our interaction near a temple at Kesavadasapuram, he scales a massive tree. He moves along lofty branches, torso writhing in what seems to be a sinuous mix of salsa, ballet, merengue and something wholly his own. He calls it the “Tarzan effect”.
Victor’s story begins in Cuba, where his parents, both doctors, raised him in modest surroundings. Life hit tumult when the family moved to the UK.
“People didn’t bond there like they did in Cuba,” he recalls.
“Moreover, my parents wanted me to follow the routine track of being a doctor or some professional. But something in me stopped me from the mundane.”
Victor remembers his “mind feeling emotions at double intensity”. He sought solitude. “The treetops seemed ideal,” he smiles. “Thus began my ties with trees, probably in my teens.”
Camping nurtured this love for a world atop trees. “At first, I felt the branches were too stiff to open up to me — much like the world beneath. But as I began spending more time on them, I found their body language nimble, creating the same nimbleness in me,” Victor recalls.
“I could touch them with the warmth of friendship and they reciprocated. And the sky above was a placid witness, like an elder watching over you as you play. I felt relaxed. I knew this was my calling.”
The ecosystem does throw surprises, including “unexpected snacks”, at times. “Like these red ants,” he chuckles, showing a handful he picked up from the tree he had just climbed. “They are so crunchy and lemony.”
Victor’s path led him to volunteer at the Brockwood Park School, a residential holistic education centre in Winchester. “The campus is a haven of huge trees and a verdant abundance. What appealed to me more was its fundamental philosophy,” he says.
“It was founded by [philosopher and spiritual guru] Jiddu Krishnamoorthy, who gave a lot of focus on the mind, the paths it takes, and the quest to observe all this in quietude.”
He worked four hours a day, and the rest was ‘Tarzan time’. “I started blending in with the groves and mighty oaks there,” he recalls.
Students at the school wanted to join him. Gradually, Victor found himself guiding others. “That’s when I names the concept ‘Tarzan Movement’. The more you move around a tree, the more you feel the ape in you emerging,” he says.
“It’s about losing your identity. When you are on a tree, there is no tree and there is no you. I sometimes just lie on a branch, hugging it, interacting with it. Everything syncs into one.”
Subsequently, Victor travelled to India. He spent time at The Valley School, founded by Jiddu, in Bengaluru. “I was deeply influenced by his thoughts,” he says. “But questions remained. Our mind is far too complex to fit into any moulds or a particular stream of philosophy. My search continued.”
Victor travelled on — to Auroville, and then Bali to learn bamboo construction. Agriculture and conservation work followed across Southeast Asia.
Next, he felt the call of trees in Barcelona. There, he initially lived on the streets as Covid struck. He slept in hammocks fastened to trees.
Morning walkers gathered to watch his unusual activities. Under the weight of lockdown blues, his ‘tree therapy’ offered them respite. “The pandmeic made people yearn for nature, camaraderie, and movement. We were a happy bunch in a park,” he recalls.
Around that time, a visual media student made a documentary on Victor. That drew global attention. “Invitations followed, including from corporates. But I resisted rigid schedules. I network with relationships more,” he says.
“If someone tells me there is a forest where we could hold retreats, I will go there. That’s how it works for me. The soul flowing like a river through explorations,” he says.
Such an interaction on “child energy” with popular climber, parkour athlete and content creator Leo Primal took him to the Amazon. “In Ecuador, members of the Cofan tribe guided us to towering trees, and shared amazing folk tales — including one about a big tree that was home to a man-eating witch,” Victor laughs. “We scaled it, but she wasn’t interested in tasting us.”
Another spear-wielding tribe taught him to “run like the wind” through slimy, slippery jungle tracts. “That was something. Quite out of the world,” says Victor.
In Thiruvananthapuram, he was gung-ho about scaling trees near the Museum area. “But the forest department stopped me. So I headed to Ponmudi,” Victor says.
What next? “I am returning to Barcelona, and then to workshops in the wilderness. I want people to vibe with nature. We need to understand our primate, animal self first,” he says. “Beginners need not be scared. Once you spend considerable time with trees, fear dissipates, and climbing techniques will naturally come to you.”
With a glint in his eyes, Victor smiles as he prepares to climb another tree near the temple. “The animal in us — the soft, the supple, and the naturally affable one — has to emerge. Only then, we will realise how beautiful life on earth is. This is my spirituality.”