This blog was written by Jesse Lommerse, a Bushwise International Field Guide student. Each student takes a turn as camp manager, and writing a blog is part of the experience.
My name is Jesse Lommerse. I am 22 years old, grew up in the Netherlands and for the past couple of years I’ve been living my best life. When I was 19 I bought my own sailing-yacht and started sailing around South and Central America. I have always been a big admirer of the outdoors and nature, but when I started my sailing adventure I really came in touch with my wild side having left everything behind from family, friends, luxury and comfort to wild seas, new countries, new people and lots of adventures. I spent almost 2 years travelling 3 oceans and over 20 countries with a good friend of mine, in which during the long days at sea I had plenty of time to think about my life and what I wanted to do with it.
Do I want to live on a boat for the rest of my life? Do I want to work for my Dad in the Dutch flower business or do I want to go my own way and make sure I find something that I really enjoy and what I want to be doing the rest of my days?
So I started thinking about what skills I have and what I’m good at. In my times of sailing I’ve noticed that when I was working on a charter I was very good with my guests and people seemed to like my character. They even liked it more when I started to talk about the colourful fish in the oceans, the big birds in the sky or about the big variety of insects everywhere in Latin America. With my passion for nature, my natural ability to work with tourists and my love for animals I came to the conclusion to become a field guide. However to begin with I had no idea where I wanted to be a guide until I remembered that I went to the Kruger National Park in South Africa with my dad when I was very little and that I really loved everything there. The guides were so kind and full of knowledge, the game reserves were full of animals and the landscapes were astonishing. Therefore I searched for the best training camp, joined up and started a new adventure.
Having arrived a couple of months later it was just how I pictured it, kind classmates and trainers all sharing the same interests, cosy huts to sleep in, in the middle of the bush with hyenas and leopards calling in the night and with over 30 birds waking you up in the morning. This was it! A place where I can learn and grow and become the best version of myself. With no regrets of leaving everything behind again, I promised myself I would become the best guide in my own way. One of the nice things of becoming a guide is that there’s not just one way of doing your job. I’ve met a lot of different people here in my camp from a lot of different countries and so many different ways of guiding. It would make sense, guiding is such an enthusiastic job and people express themselves in different ways.
Life as a field guide in training is the best! It never felt like I was back in a school studying subjects because I have to. I am here because I love learning these subjects. Although the days can be long, time seems to fly by. We’re now in the 4th semester and we have done so many wonderful things like: birding, track and sign, trailing, and so many more. It’s been a real honour to have been taught by one of the original master trackers Adrian Low and Colin Patrick, seeing them work is like watching the conductor leading an orchestra, it’s a piece of art. The birding week was also fun, although it was very rough in the beginning seeing and learning all the most common birds in our area in one week, but the further we got, the easier it got.
Since I’ve been here it's been so much fun, I’ve learned a lot and made loads of good friends. It's a shame knowing that when I get my certificate I have to leave everything behind again…
If you have a love for nature and a sense of adventure I would definitely recommend becoming a field guide.
Ready to start your own journey in becoming a field guide? Explore Bushwise courses and apply now to become a qualified nature guide!
