When I think of honey, I really don’t think of scaling a huge cliff with giant bees to get it. But that’s what the local people of Nepal do every year. They risk their lives to harvest wild honey from the cliffs, climbing long bamboo ladders and collecting the combs in a traditional, but very precarious, manner.
But this is not just any honey, and it doesn’t come from just any old bee. The Himalayan honey bee (Apis dorsal laborious) is the world’s largest honey bee and can measure up to 1.2 inches. They exist only in the Himalayas and build their nests in extremely high altitudes (from 8,200 to 13,500 ft). As for the honey itself, it’s red, and it’s one of the most valuable types of honeys in the world due to its intoxicating and relaxing qualities.
The Himalayan Gurung men of Nepal hanging on cliffs to harvest the honey.
They risk their lives so they can then export the honey to other Asian countries.
Seriously, they really risky their lives…
The bees are incredible.
These guys look like daredevils, but they’re just normal men earning their living.
Fascinating.
After a long day of honey harvesting, it’s picture time.
That’s some serious work to get a bit of honey.
Photos: Éric Tourneret and Eric Valli
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