Siegurd van Leusen

Woodsman with ginger beard holding an axe

Siegurd van Leusen is the founder of SIEGURD.nl and an outdoor enthusiast in heart and soul. Raised in the countryside in Umbria, Italy and only returned to the Netherlands at the age of 19 to move again shortly afterwards for three years between the French vineyards. Now, although still with great pleasure, he has been working for almost twenty years as chief instructor in outdoor sports.

He has had his love for the outdoors from the moment he just started walking. He moved to Italy with his parents at the age of four months. First a few years in the far south, Calabria and then until his 19th birthday in the beautiful and green Umbria. Here he learned to appreciate the simple things and to look for the adventurous…

Siegurd says “With parents as missionaries and therefore on a low income, life naturally becomes more creative and inventive and you see things more as challenges than as problems. Simple things like cooking on a wood fire or coal, growing your own food or getting it from nature, became the most normal thing in the world.”

Siegurd grew up with friends from peasant families, where food just roamed the yard. He was also not surprised if the same bunny was on the table in the evening among the baked potatoes while it was still cheerfully walking around in the morning! He regularly went into the hills with his knapsack, alone or with his brothers and friends.

Bushcraft has never been a choice for him but has always been there and evolved into what it is today. Siegurd is very eager to learn and tries to further develop his love for nature in this way. For more than 10 years he has been giving courses all year round through his company Siegurd.nl. Now with a team of 20 volunteers and 3 instructors, one of the largest bushcraft companies in the Netherlands.

We are delighted Siegurd is joining us at the Global Bushcraft Symposium. He will be running several workshops in our Theme Camps.