Leo Gripari will never forget the moment he went totally ape on a family holiday in 2018. And five years on, they are proud of him for it – even though partner Casey, his university sweetheart, never expected having to share him with a band of fierce, chest thumping love rivals.
On that sleepless night in Singapore, the jet-lagged property businessman with a love of nature and adventure realised what he wanted to do with his life: rescue the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas.
Since then, Leo, 42, has completed challenges such as gruelling ultra marathons, covering more than 2,174 miles in three years, including training, to raise £152,000 for projects aimed at saving the magnificent creatures. Only 1,063 remain in the wild.
