I live continents apart from Raoul with him in the Netherlands and me in Canada, but every so often we meet when I teach at his school in Eibergen, or he brings his students to Canada. There is a deep joy we share as we exchange skills and knowledge about the forest we are pushing through, or the mountaintop we freely gaze from.
Raoul is a man who finds beauty and excitement in everything that nature offers, from the subtle pressure shift in the snow that surrounds a wolf track, to the golden light shimmering across a raindrop that tenaciously hangs onto a tamarack branch.
He is an eternal student of nature who will quickly inspire you to walk his wild path, while he imparts his in depth and motivating erudition of everything he knows about the natural world.
As much as I have been able to contribute to his journey he is one of the few people in the world who I can say astounds me with his knowledge. I find myself delighted at the way he will describe how the delicate shift in flight patterns will allow me to discern which bird of prey we are watching. I take pleasure in our long chats around the campfire where his passion for protecting wild spaces and wildlife radiates so eloquently in his rhetoric. His words wash over you like a warm vocal wave that leaves you drenched in a desire to go and explore all the remaining remote spaces on earth.
This book will furnish you with many of the skills that offer you a shortcut to traveling and living safely in the northern bush, or mountains, with guidance on the right gear to carry and the correct clothes you need to wear. It will equip you with the finer skills that will permit you to integrate your experience with, and how to use, the natural environment by becoming a part of the landscape. Its many pages teach you how to select and navigate a route through wild terrain that will in part lead you to a long healthy life.
We are like wolves, we crave the freedom to roam and live a free unpretentious life in the wilderness either with our pack, or on a long solitary journey of exploration in the bush. Many of us would like to become a wolf and break free of the chains of modern urban living and become students of nature. Some of you have already managed to embrace a lifestyle that takes you into the wilds. Wherever you are on your journey I would advise you to take a copy of “Tracks of the White Wolf “ as a traveling companion.
Dave Holder
IGA Master Guide, Outdoor Council of Canada Instructor, Wilderness living skills Instructor, Wilderness Guide Association level 3 Guide, Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, Lead Survival Consultant – History Channel – Alone show
Tracks of the White Wolf 