The world is full of miracles, most of which many people have not heard and do not know. Himalayan bees can be safely attributed to one of these phenomena, along with the oldest profession of the mountainous Nepal, called “honey hunters”. Rare travelers climb so high into the mountains and communicate with the locals. There are even fewer Europeans who managed to watch the "hunt", experience unimaginable delight and respect, and then tell about what they saw.
Himalayan bees: sizes and varieties
Several species of these insects live in the mountains. It is noteworthy that they are territorially separated. Each species has occupied its range and is not removed far beyond its borders. Particularly interesting are the dwarf Himalayan bees, Apis florea. Above a kilometer above sea level, they do not fly in, the house is built from one honeycomb, sticking around the entire branch. Their "yield" is low, up to a kilogram of honey per year, but they areexcellent pollinators.
Himalayan bees of the species Apis Cerana are also not very honey-bearing - five kilos of honey per family. But they have a lot of advantages: they are very peaceful (beehive decks can be located right in the niches of the walls of residential buildings), are not susceptible to ticks and are well protected from hornet attacks. They have the usual sizes, and in Nepal they are considered the most promising for beekeeping.
The next species is Apis dorsata. These Himalayan bees are very large, due to which the locals sometimes call them queen bees. The hives they build are also single-celled; up to a hundred families can coexist in each, and the nest sometimes reaches two tens of kilograms in weight. Often under the hive, bees occupy artificial objects - towers, bridges or buildings.
Laboriosa description
However, Himalayan bees are the most attractive both in terms of honey production and biological characteristics. These are the largest insects of this kind, their body length reaches three centimeters. The coloration of the laboriosa is not very characteristic of a bee: the insect is rather black, with white stripes on the abdominal segments. This species of bee settles only in the Himalayan valleys, occupying territories from the eastern Mekong to the northern regions of Nepal, India and Bhutan.
The largest bee and its behavioral features
Laboriosa's life has a strict schedule. In spring, the bees rise very high in the mountains, reaching the mark of 4 thousand meters. There they equip a huge nest,sometimes reaching a meter in length and width. Here they swarm and collect a valuable product, and the honey of the Himalayan bees of this species is “stored” only in one corner of their dwelling. It is recruited from the hive up to 60 kilograms. At the end of summer, the bees turn off their activities and descend into the valleys, to a height of from a kilometer to one and a half above sea level. Here they hibernate, forming whole live clusters, but without building combs and reducing activity to a minimum.
Crazy Honey
What the largest Himalayan bees are famous for is hallucinogenic honey. You can not buy it in the nearest supermarket, and it is very expensive. The special properties of the product are explained by the fact that only high- altitude laborioses have the opportunity to collect nectar from rhododendron flowers. A number of varieties of this plant release andromedotoxin when flowering. In large quantities, it is poisonous to humans.
Honey collected from rhododendrons gets very strong properties. It is considered a recreational drug and a powerful hallucinogen. However, at the same time, it also has medicinal qualities that successfully help in the fight against diabetes, hypertension and other serious diseases. Of course, you can take "crazy honey" only in very small doses. Exceeding them can lead to death.
In small quantities, medoc gives intoxication, a feeling of relaxation, slight dizziness and elation.
Rhododendrons do not bloom all year round, and the hallucinogenic honey of the Himalayan bees gets its properties only when harvested in the spring. Honey collected at the end of summer is tasty and he althy, but there is no madness with youbears.
Hunting for honey
In the mountains of Nepal there is a people called Gurung. The main profession of the men of this tribe is hunting for wild honey. All of them are excellent climbers, and for the Gurungs this is not a sport, but a vital necessity.
Children join hunting from an early age. At first, they only collect odorous herbs and nettles on the way to the places where the Himalayan bees made their honeycombs. Having become a little older, the boys, together with the women, pick up the nests that fell off the rocks and were missed by the men.
You have to go for tens of kilometers. With them, honey hunters carry bamboo baskets for prey; in one such container you can put about two centners of honey. In addition, professional equipment includes kilometer-long ladders and homemade insurance, as well as nets to protect the face from angry bee stings.
Smoky fires are being made below. When the intensity of bee attacks falls, the hunter rises up to a great height. Sitting on a bamboo ladder, the gurung holds the basket with one hand and cuts the honeycomb with the other. Empty sectors are also taken - hunters need wax on the farm, and they take it willingly for sale.
Fading Traditions
The unique Gurung way of life is slowly dying. Laboriosa bees are decreasing in number every year: climate change and the extermination of high- altitude rhododendron plantations are affecting. Strongly crippled the popularity of hunting for honey andgovernment-sponsored home beekeeping. Less and less young people are interested in such a dangerous profession. And the medicinal properties of "crazy honey" are so interested in pharmaceutical companies that the rights to "harvest" are transferred to contractors. Do not miss their and travel companies, organizing a "hunt for honey" for amateurs, which leads to the depletion and extermination of bee colonies. According to forecasts, another decade maximum - and there will be no giant honey bees, no "red honey", no hunters for it in the world.
