I never ask my kids if they want to go to the forest. But if you just want to get out into nature, you need a goal so that you actually get out there.

“If you are going to hike along a trail from A to B, you have a goal. But he thinks it helps to have a goal with his outings. He spends a lot of time outdoors, even in his free time. If you have a personal relationship to the wilderness, you are more likely to want to protect it. And he would see everything as something beautiful.” Marcus hopes that nature will benefit from more people discovering it.

He would see the Arctic loon and the lily pads and the mist. “But a Dutchman would stand by the same tarn and be totally fascinated. A Swede could stand by a tarn in a forest and say – there is nothing to see here,” says Marcus, and says that he was like this once upon a time. It is so easy to become blind to your surroundings. And the impression they take home with them is so much more. “Listening to the wolves howling at dusk is an experience I will never tire of, and seeing guests experiencing the same thing is something extra special. Why has moss been ripped up here? Who has been gnawing on that pinecone? What are those droppings? Why is there no bark on one side of the tree? Is it a roedeer or moose that has polished their antlers here? You can see how it has battled its way up, how its roots have gravitated towards a stream, how it has the intelligence needed to survive.” With this approach, he has often both asked the question – and found the answer. It might have been broken or had to grow around another tree. “But I think it is just as interesting to stare at a tree and see what it really looks like. He discovers animal tracks and analyses their movement patterns, the size of their paws and hooves, the length of their stride. He has another way of looking at the signs he sees in nature. But primarily, it has been his eyes that have opened. It has become his job to open others’ eyes to animal and plant life in the wilderness that can only be glimpsed from the motorway, running tracks and ski slopes. Since 2003, Marcus has run his company Wild Sweden that takes visitors out in the Swedish wilderness to see moose, beavers and bears, and to hear the howls of wolves. That visit to the tourist information centre was the start of his business, which eventually grew to the point that he could make a living from it, and his vision, mission and lifestyle.

The busy little squirrel