By Amruth Chinappa
Honey has been used for many millennia. People use it as a food sweetener, as burn relief and it is also applied over cuts for its antibacterial properties. It lasts for centuries and can vary in taste at different locations. The Himalayan Giant Honey Bee produces a hallucinogenic variant of the delicacy and plays an important part in the lives of the Gurung tribe in Nepal.
Giant factories of honey
Apis dorsata laboriosa is the largest honey bee species in the world and native to the Himalayas. Honey is the regurgitated mixture of nectar and bee saliva. The Himalayan bees ingest grayanotoxins from the rhododendron flower during springtime and produce honey which is reported to possess marijuana-like properties. The reddish-brown honey, which is darker and thinner than its counterparts, is dubbed ‘Mad Honey’. It is wildly popular because of the high it generates but the product itself is difficult to obtain. The hives are hugefive feet in diameter and can hold up to 60 kg of honey. They are built high up on the sides of sheer cliffs and agitating the bees there is a bad idea. Their stingers can pass through most beekeeper suits. This, however, does not stop the Gurung tribe, who go in search of the hives every year.
The fearless people of the mountains
“Only those who can control their fears and remain unflinching in the face of death can be a honey hunter,” says Bais Bahadur Gurung, a village chief. This ethnic group risk their lives twice every year to obtain wild honey and have done so for centuries. Covered with whatever cloth is at hand, they use enormous bamboo ladders to reach the hives. They smoke the bees out with woodfire and collect parts of the honeycomb by knocking them to the ground. This occurs at great danger to their lives with past incidents of men falling to their deaths from the ladders. Almost everyone else climbs down with badly stung hands. The painful yet rewarding event is continued by the Gurung tribe as part of their culture and tradition.
The agricultural tribesmen use the honey as a sweetener and consume one or two teaspoons to soothe their muscles after a hard days work. Any more of it is toxic and is an unpleasant experience. One would feel the need to purge by either vomiting or defecating. Then, “after the purge, you alternate between light and dark. You can see, and then you cant see, explains Jangi Kulung, a local honey trader. A soundjam jam jampulses in your head, like the beehive. You cant move, but youre still completely lucid. The paralysis lasts for a day or so.
Rising global demand
The harvested honey is distributed among the village and sold outside. There is a large demand for the product throughout northeastern Asia. Buyers from China, Japan, North Korea and South Korea believe it benefits male fertility and pay high prices for it. Each kilogram sells for $130 to $180 in the US black market. There is an increasing quantity of honey going out of the region each year and it does not seem to decrease anytime soon. The demand is fast out-growing the supply due in part to the changing occupations of the Gurung community.
Dwindling interest to keep the balance
Globalisation has extended its reach to the villages around the Himalayas with youths heading out to seek their fortune. Other members of the tribe look at other less-riskier occupations. Soon, it may lead to a situation where the native population are not in control of the honey. A documentary, “The Last Honey Hunter” is slated to release sometime in 2018 and echoes the presiding situation of the tribesmen. Commercial industries may use mechanised solutions to harvest honey but it is not guaranteed to be sustainable. Humans have not shown a good track record in maintaining a balance between the needs of themselves and those of nature.
‘Canna-bees’
Mad Honey is unique to the region because the rhododendron flowers grow at an altitude which regular honey bees cannot access. A substitute, however, may be in the works. A French-man under the pseudonym ‘Nicolas Trainerbees’ posted a video of a swarm of honeybees feasting on marijuana plants. Dubbed ”canna-bees”, they were reportedly trained to do so and are able to produce intoxicating honey. Officials from the BumbleBee Conservation trust were questioned on the veracity of these claims. They admit that there is a possibility of cannabis pollen acting as the intoxicant in the canna-honey. The bees themselves are not affected by the drug as they do not possess an endocannabinoid system to process it. In light of such claims, Hallucinogenic honey may soon find a place on drugstore shelves.
The decreasing global population of bees is a major cause of worry. With their immense impact on the plant and animal world, their absence could result in the extinction of many other species of creatures. Conservation efforts need to be increased to preserve this vital part of our lives.
Featured image source: Wikimedia Commons