In 2015, Bouke Lolkema was trekking in the high mountains of Nepal when the ground started to shake. He was 49 years old. He was in a deep gorge, just a few kilometers from the epicenter. Then events unfolded that sent his whole life in another direction.
“At that moment I thought my life was over,” he said in an interview with EcoTraining .
People who experienced more intense quakes reported more stress symptoms. Bouke is Dutch. He has lived most of his life in the Netherlands , a country not known for its towering mountains. He was a lifelong wildlife enthusiast who built a career in the military and information technology. He worked as a project manager. In the gorge, huge rocks and boulders fell from the slopes around him. Even so, it took him four difficult days to get to safety. Bouke didn’t go back to his previous job. He quit his job as a project manager and decided to become a tour guide who travels as much as he can. He took courses with EcoTraining, which trains safari guides. He admits that this kind of lifestyle is not always possible, but he strives to live it as much as possible. Psychologists use the term post-traumatic growth for positive change after a hard event. It doesn’t mean the pain disappears, and stress and growth can exist together. The authors also found that the connection between quake experience and positive change operated through how strongly people felt part of a community and how much they believed their group could act together. This study looked at local residents, so it can’t explain why one foreign trekker made the choices he did. But it does show that hardship and growth can be next-door neighbors. He was lucky enough to spot a snow leopard in Ladakh, India, just before COVID hit. For him, seeing one in the wild is the holy grail of wildlife spotting. Moments like that hardly ever come easily. Finding rare wildlife takes patience and long hours outdoors, which fits the life he chose after the earthquake: guiding hikes and wildlife photography tours in some of the places he loves most. Nature is no longer something he visits between projects. It is the center of his working life. You don’t need to go through a crisis to rethink your path. He admits that practical concerns such as finances or career might be valid, but he encourages people to follow their hearts. Start with a small step. Try spending a few hours outdoors this week and see what lights you up.
He completed the online Field Guide Theory course in December 2020 and the practical Trails Guide course in March 2021. At 54, he was by far the oldest student, and he enjoyed keeping up with the young. According to a 2017 European Journal of Social Psychology study by Orla Muldoon and colleagues, 399 people living in earthquake-affected areas of Nepal were surveyed about six months after the 2015 quakes. Bouke has visited Nepal over 20 times and considers it his second home.
He says it felt like the world was collapsing, and he accepted that he might not survive. Bouke says it “doesn’t matter what age you are, 18 or 78” if you want to follow your dreams. Today he leads and organizes hikes and wildlife photography tours in Europe, Nepal, India, and southern Africa .
