“No one can summon up the courage to hunt honey. It seems like I am going to be the last honey hunter of this area,” opines Sher Bahadur Gurung, a honey hunter from Tangting village.

The world’s largest beehives can be found on the cliffs of Nepal, and I’m not one to shirk from an adventure. I was lucky enough to go on a trip concerning a honey hunting project with German photojournalist Andrej and senior wildlife conservationist Raju Acharya to witness these beehives up close in Tangting village.

Tangting is a village situated in the lap of the Annapurna massif, just two hours away from Pokhara, Nepal. This village is the residence of the Gurung community, who are world famous for their bravery. Mr Sher Bahadur Gurung is a 59-year-old energetic greybeard of Tangting village and is supposed to be the last of the honey hunters from this sole Gurung village. He has been harvesting honey since his late teens but now worries whether he will be able to pass this rather intense and perilous job to the next generation. 

Gurung boasts that he can harvest a single hive within two minutes. He generally swings on the rope ladder made of stout timber and small bamboo (paryang) with his naked limbs and skillfully cuts the beehive. However, a honey hunter alone cannot achieve success in this task; he is accompanied by a group of 10 to 12 individuals. First, a group of four goes up the cliff to tie the rope and ladder. Then, the next group creates smoke beneath the cliff with green leaves. Another group guides the whole process, where the main hunter climbs and cuts the hives with the assistance of his team. A group below frequently ties and sends up the essential tools necessary for the hunter. The tool might be a large bamboo spatula, a bucket, or sometimes a bunch of heavily smoking green branches. 

Honey hunters harvest from different cliffs near and far from their village. This is carried out twice a year: summer and winter. In good season, they harvest 30 to 40 liters of honey. In lean times, only 3 to 4 liters are obtained. A liter of honey costs around NPR 2000 to 2500. This honey is famous for its unique and magical hallucinogenic properties, giving it the name of “mad honey.” When people drink more than 50 ml of this honey, they slowly get paralyzed. This paralyzing effect lasts for 24 hours. After a day, the person returns to normal state. The intensity of the hallucinations differs from season to season and hive to hive. The nectar of wild rhodenderon flowers might be the cause of this but it has not been scientifically proven yet. The honey also possesses different allopathic and ayurvedic properties. They say that a small consumption of this honey from time to time makes one healthy. Some individuals come to the village to buy honey while others order it from Pokhara. It is said to be exported to different countries but mainly to Korea.

Despite being home to honey hunters, the inhabitants of Tangting are slowly drifting away from their community livelihood. Among the existing 200 households, 50 houses are vacant. Most of the habitants have migrated to city areas and foreign countries. Lack of local youth has also been a barrier for them to continue their culture. Some have shown interest but have failed due to the tedious process. Gurung finds happiness in honey hunting even when there’s no promise of an alluring income. He heartily welcomes anyone who wants to learn this traditional skill but none have shown courage so far. “It is not an easy task to harvest honey from the cliff. The very first thing you need is courage and tactics to harvest honey from the home of merciless bees and unforgiving cliffs,” says Gurung. 

Honey hunting is a degenerating state in the present scenario. Nepal, being a diversified country in every aspect, is facing vulnerabilities. The diversification of culture seems to be most vulnerable for extinction and honey hunting will be one of many. Very few villages of the Gurung community have honey hunters now. Losing one’s authentic culture has become a trend in Nepal. If this continues, the word “culturally diversified” used to define Nepal will exist nowhere but in history. It’s on our shoulders whether to continue the practice or not. Or the day won’t be far when the future generation will be amused that Nepal once even had honey hunters.

The main challenge is to encourage the youth to continue this practice. Now is the time and place for the government, local bodies, NGOs, and INGOs to play a heroic role in seeing that this practice runs continuously. Income generation activities need to be prioritized, which will ultimately protect the culture. There are high possibilities in co-linking honey hunting with tourism. Tourism might be an inspiring tool to preserve this practice. Wild honey trips can be run in group tourism and be made a part of Nepal sightseeing tours. If all of us can create opportunities for the locals and support them, then with prioritization of government plans and strategies, the culture can be preserved.