Who am I?
Hi! I’m Nick Platje, owner of the travel company Rewild. I absolutely love being physically active, especially outdoors. As a wilderness guide and Mountain Leader, I guide many trips in all kinds of places. That means I spend a large part of the year out in nature, sleep outdoors a lot, visit extraordinary places, and have a network and frame of reference that extend well beyond the borders of the Netherlands.
When I’m back home, I spend a lot of time working on my health, contributing to Rewild as best I can alongside a fantastic team, investing energy in a vibrant social life (often combined with sporting activities!), and practising some Arabic for the trips.
My days here are incredibly varied: one day I’ll be poring over a map, piecing together a new trip, and finish the day at the climbing gym; the next, I’ll be working with the team before heading out for a run in the dunes. Another thing I regularly do and really enjoy is photography, especially while travelling, of course.
If you had to draw a caricature cartoon of yourself, what would it look like?
A little character with dark hair, shorts, a headband and a camera, active in an unfamiliar and unusual mountainous region in a completely different cultural environment, enthusiastically attempting to blurt out the local vocabulary while failing miserably at it. Surrounded by local mountain people and Dutch companions, in search of adventure and fuel for curiosity.
What drives you in guiding?
In a previous life I worked in the Marine Corps where I was introduced to the outdoors on the road, self-reliance in nature and overcoming challenging circumstances together. Developing myself in these areas has brought me much personally and has been the beginning of an inquisitive driving force behind a life path full of idealism of which Rewild is an expression. As far as I am concerned, these wilderness journeys are not just adventures. For these kinds of ventures together imply a lot more.
While the trend of more inside, more digital, more comfort and more convenience continues, things on the go outside are often hard work, sometimes cashing in and very minimalist. Hands off and old-fashioned physical work, putting a lot of effort into basic things. Pioneering in an unfamiliar place and dealing with an unpredictable reality full of difficult situations that you know are going to present themselves but not yet in what form. So why seek this out anyway? Because that effort pays off in satisfaction, pride and euphoria. Because doing it anyway, creates confidence in one’s own abilities and at the same time healthy humility, prompted by the uncontrollability and grandeur of the wilderness. The feeling of being able to manage yourself and that things will work out even though at times you may not yet know how. To find contentment in simplicity, find richness in sobriety and learn to put things into perspective with humor. And perhaps most importantly, to feel oneness with the nature around you.
Being thrown back together at the base depending on each other creates an atmosphere of belonging, a sense of connectedness, regardless of everyone’s origins and backgrounds. A state beyond cultivation, conditioning, ideological frameworks and status where mutual understanding emerges. The encounters with other lifestyles, dissenters and other cultures that sharpen your mind and enrich your perspective. The feeling of being off the radar days away from civilization. Experiencing real things, memorable things. Experiencing the serenity and nature intensely. The dynamics of the group and the sociability among themselves. For me, this is pure fuel for life. And it gives me fulfillment to be able to be of service to others in this when I can contribute in an equally meaningful journey for someone else.
Do you have a great anecdote or special wilderness experience worth sharing?
During one of the covid years, we went on a group trip to the nomads in Iran. This ended up being one of those trips where everything went wrong and then came right again. It started with the covid travel documents. Iran had relaxed them, but the inspectors on duty thought otherwise. So: testing, then being late, rebooking flights, adjusting program and improvising. Once in Iran, things had been left behind in Istanbul. We had to make do with what we had. But the bags that were there then bounced along the Iranian highway because the tailgate of the cab was closed Iranian style. Once on the road in the mountains with the caravan, we lost some sleeping gear from the donkey during a move in the dark. Fortunately, the nomads still had a Persian rug to lie on. With first light but a hike the same way back to pick the gear out of the field. After a firm trek through the Zagros Mountains we arrived at our final destination where our pickup was supposed to be waiting for us, but by now we knew that everything on this trip would be Iranian. After hours of searching to make contact I stumbled upon a little house where we finally managed to call for the pickup with a land line connection. And it was so late that we had to rush to the airport. To make matters worse, stuff was left behind in the rush. Fine lesson in flexibility!
Which wilderness destination is still on your bucket list and why?
Travelling across Alaska sounds like an amazing experience!
Do you have a message for the people reading this?
I wish the feeling of the wilderness for everyone. Would you like to experience that but have doubts? Then reach out and let me know. Because we are ordinary people without supernatural powers and if we can do this, so can you. From watching to participating. From uncertainty to confidence. From screen to outside. From ignorant to self-reliant. We will help you with this.
