India, Oct. 30 -- In 2015, Bouke Lolkema was trekking in the high mountains of Nepal when the ground started to shake. He was in a deep gorge, just a few kilometers from the epicenter. "At that moment I thought my life was over," he said in an interview with EcoTraining. He was 49 years old. Then events unfolded that sent his whole life in another direction.

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. He says it felt like the world was collapsing, and he accepted that ...