ROLANDS RATFELDERS · BIOLOGIST, NATURE GUIDE & FIELD WRITER
Field Notes
Travel writing with muddy boots.
Escape stories from journeys worth the page.
Travel writing, route notes and field observations from places that deserve more than a top-ten list. Trails, coastlines, wildlife, old roads, local habits, wrong turns, and the occasional landscape that behaves like it has read the itinerary and politely disagrees.
WHAT THIS IS
What are the Field Notes?
Field Notes is the editorial side of Escaperies. Some posts are practical guides. Some are essays. Some are route notes from places I have walked, paddled, driven, scouted or quietly stared at while pretending it was research.
The point is simple: to understand places more deeply before turning them into products, posts or polite travel advice.
HOW TO READ
Four ways into the notes
Plan your own trip
Field-tested itineraries, route notes and practical know-how for travelling independently — with fewer wasted detours and fewer “why is this road suddenly a goat path?” moments.
Understand the wildlife
What is actually around, what behaviour means, and why the landscape works the way it does — explained lightly by a biologist in the field.
Travel responsibly
Wildlife etiquette, overtourism traps and how to experience a place without helping ruin the thing you came to see.
Stories from the field
The slower pieces — landscape, weather, wildlife, people and the moments that begin once the guidebook stops being useful.
BROWSE BY HUB
Browse the notes by hub
Browse by hub. Latvia & the Baltics already has a dedicated pillar page; the other hubs stay here as focused sections while the archive grows.
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LATEST
Recent notes
The three newest notes, whatever the region.
FEATURED
Start here
A few notes worth reading first. Add the Featured category to control what appears here.
PILLAR HUB · LATVIA & BALTICS
Latvia & the Baltics
Forests, bogs, coastal trails, rivers and local guiding notes from Latvia and the wider Baltic region. Guided Latvia and Baltic tours are operated through Baltic Nature Adventures; Escaperies remains the international journey platform.
HUB · SOUTH-EAST ASIA
South-East Asia
Rainforests, islands, tea hills, wildlife and old routes — for now this is the place for Sri Lanka-adjacent and South-East Asian field notes until the archive grows its own branches.
HUB · BALKANS & CAUCASUS
Balkans & Caucasus
Mountain roads, stone towns, guesthouse country and the field notes behind the Albania journey. Georgia and the wider Caucasus can live here until they earn their own page.
HUB · REST OF EUROPE
Rest of Europe
European field notes outside Latvia and the Baltics — islands, mountains, dry scrub, old trails and the odd plant that clearly has strong opinions about sunlight.
HUB · AMERICAS
Americas
Andean routes, tropical forests, coasts and future scouting notes from the Americas. For now, this is a small shelf with room to grow.
HUB · RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
Responsible Travel
Why small groups, local operators and ecological honesty matter — and what those words mean once you stop using them as decoration.
READ BY THEME
Threads that cut across destinations
Some subjects follow you from one country to the next. Pick a thread and read across borders.
ALSO ON SUBSTACK
Prefer these notes by email?
Some of the writing also goes out on Substack — the same field notes, in a quieter, more personal format that lands in your inbox now and then. No schedule, no noise. If that is how you like to read, you are welcome to follow along.
Ready to turn the reading into a journey?
Two ways to travel with me — international journeys through Escaperies, or guided trips in Latvia and the Baltics through Baltic Nature Adventures.
INTERNATIONAL
Escaperies Journeys
Personally led small-group nature and adventure journeys — Sri Lanka, Albania and upcoming routes.
LATVIA & THE BALTICS
Baltic Nature Adventures
Guided hiking, kayaking, bog walks and wildlife in Latvia and the Baltics — operated through Baltic Nature Adventures.