Hidden dangers of hunting wild honey

(Baonghean) -In the lush green Pu Mat forests, among the countless benefits from the forest, honeybees are a precious resource that nature has bestowed upon humans. Every year, people in the mountainous district of Con Cuong collect thousands of liters of honey, bringing a considerable income to many families. But few people know that, to get those liters of sweet honey, the honey collectors have to go through many hardships and difficulties.

We arrived at Met village, Luc Da commune (Con Cuong), a village located near the edge of the forest of Pu Mat National Park, where people are famous for hunting wild bees for honey. For many generations, "father to son", people have made hunting wild bees for honey as a livelihood. Following Thao and some people in the village into the forest to find bees for honey, we were able to join an interesting, but no less arduous and dangerous, trip to the forest of wild honey hunters. The tools they brought with them were only a knife, a backpack, a matchbox or a lighter.

After 3 hours of wandering in the deep forest, wading through many streams, Mr. Thao's group of wild bee hunters discovered some bees going down the stream to find water. Everyone in the group carefully followed the direction of the bees' flight. According to Thao's judgment, the bee nest was about 1km away as the crow flies. Our group lifted the trees and went through the forest. After more than 40 minutes of chasing, as predicted, about 1km from the stream, the group of workers found a honey bee nest hanging on a tree branch about 20 meters high. As fast as lightning, the workers' work began. They quickly went to find dry branches to gather into torches, wrapped them with green leaves to create smoke, then assigned people to weave baskets to hold the bee nests, and others to cut bamboo trees, take forest vines and tie them to the tree trunks to make ladders from the base up to the bee nests. Anh Thao clung to the bamboo tree and climbed up, carrying a basket and a torch that had been lit, creating a thick, pungent smoke, waving it around the hive, the bees flew out of the hive drunk on the smoke. After 15 minutes, with 3-4 operations, the hive was gently lowered by the workers. The remaining work was just to squeeze the honey into a bottle to bring home. Anh Thao said, "It's not always that easy, there are times when I slip and fall dozens of meters. I know this job is very dangerous, but for the sake of food and clothing" ...

The job of collecting wild honey is not only hard but also life-threatening. Mildly, you may get stung by a bee, sometimes climbing high, the ladder rope breaks, or slip and fall down, causing lifelong injuries, and even death. Anh Thao said: “Collecting honey from trees is still bearable, but encountering beehives making honey on high cliffs is much more difficult and dangerous. If the bees make honey on the cliff, you have to climb to the top of the cliff, use forest vines to tie to the base of the tree and then swing down to collect the honey. Knowing the danger, for the people of the mountains who live mainly on the forest, on the blessings of heaven and earth, and nature, they still have to take the plunge.”

In the past, Con Cuong forest was still wild and dense, with many bee nests, "given by heaven", anyone could take them. But due to human impact, the forest is no longer the same as before. During the honey harvesting season, every day hundreds of people in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park go into the forest to burn bees, looking for honey, the forest is increasingly encroached, affecting the living environment and development of bees. Therefore, wild bees do not make as many nests as before, the bees have to go far into the deep forest, deep mountains, in the core area to make nests. Bee hunters must go deep into the forest to find honey bee nests. To get honey, hunters must bring fire into the forest to create smoke to drive away the bees. If those sparks accidentally catch on the dry vegetation, the consequences will be unpredictable. The forest is at risk of fire at any time. Therefore, the method of burning bees for honey poses a high risk of forest fires, and wild bees will be exterminated.

Mr. Dang Dinh Xuan - Acting Head of the Forest Protection Department of Pu Mat National Park said: "The profession of burning bees in the forest has a very high risk of causing forest fires. We have regularly patrolled, controlled, and propagated to help people understand the unpredictable harm of exploiting wild honey. To reduce this situation, the relevant agencies also need to develop sustainable poverty reduction projects for people, at the same time creating jobs and livelihoods for people to preserve the forest."

Pu Mat National Park – the world natural biosphere reserve in Western Nghe An is increasingly depleted. Authorities, local governments, especially forest rangers need to take strong measures to control and prevent illegal forest exploitation activities, including bee stinging, to limit the risk of forest fires and preserve natural bee species.

Bao Ngoc - Ba Hau (Con Cuong Theater)