For honey and trance state to Nepal
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For honey and trance state to Nepal

The “wrong sort of” bees that make the “wrong sort of” honey is not Winnie the Pooh’s fantasy, but the reality: this sweet course is prepared by the bees of Nepal, collecting the pollen of rhododendron - the country's national flower.

In late autumn, the next season of beekeeping ends here - uncapping the honeycombs of the world's largest wild Nepalese bees to collect the rhododendron honey, which is famous for its extraordinary healing and psychedelic qualities and is in great demand not only in Asia, but also in the USA, Europe, Australia.

Wrong sort of bees

"Mad" and, as the Nepalese think, unusually healing honey is collected by the Himalayan rock bee Apis laboriosa - the largest one in the world, up to three centimeters long. These bees migrate, and in the summer months, they rise from the Nepalese valleys up to the Himalayas’ subalpine zones at a height of 2,800 to 3,500 meters, into the thickets of the blooming rhododendrons. The local people say that the view of a huge black swarm of bees - posing a deadly threat - flying to their new place is very impressive, they usually attack the enemy immediately. Mowgli used them in the fight with wild dogs in the fairy tale by Rudyard Kipling.

Despite the huge risk, deep in the Himalayas there exists an indigenous community engaged in wild-honey hunting – a tribe of Gurungs. They are called ‘honey hunters’ and the skills of the dangerous honey hunting are passed on from one generation to next one in their tribe. The tradition, which dates back hundreds of years, is of great religious and cultural importance, and the Gurung people believe, the risk pays off with fabulous prices for this unique product.

About 3 thousand tons of honey are harvested in Nepal per year, which is also called “red” not only for color, but also due to its healing qualities, and the price goes as high as $200 per kilogram. Most of the honey is supplied to the ‘black’ market and is shipped out of the former Himalayan kingdom, mainly to Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan, where the traditional medicines made from these exotic ingredients are popular.

In addition, in recent years, honey hunting tours have become an increasingly popular tourist attraction event in Nepal. The growing number of tourists traveling along the world-famous Annapurna highway caught the interest of trekking agencies in organizing ‘honey hunting’ tours. Every traveler pays $250 to $1,500, of which a very small amount goes to indigenous communities. And the honey hunter himself, risking to die when climbing up the cliff to a dizzying height and meeting angry bees, gets about one hundred dollars only.

At a heavy cost

Bee nests of up to one and a half meters in diameter can contain up to 60 kg of honey, which makes honey harvesting really a very profitable business for the people of all the 12 Gurung villages. Using only hemp ropes made by themselves, they climb up the sheer cliff of dizzying height twice a year, in late spring and late autumn. Smoky fires are created at the foot of a mountain in advance, and when the intensity of the bee attack is petering out, the daredevil - with a three-meter bamboo pole and a bundle of smoking grass in one hand - climbs up to the top using a swinging ladder made of ropes. With the help of a sharp hook fixed at the end of the pole, he cuts the honeycombs away from the cliff face and puts them into large baskets, and then lowers them down to his helpers, filling the baskets one by one until he harvests all the beehives within his reach. He also collects empty honey combs – the wax can be used on the farm or sold.

Scientists have already unraveled up a mystery of the wonderful properties of the very thick and heaviest honey in the world. Thanks to the rhododendron pollen, it contains grayanotoxin, the most harmless effect of which in case of an overdose is a mild mind-expanding effect, similar to that of some types of mushrooms. European thrill-seekers achieve it with just 2-3 tablespoons of the "wrong sort of honey." If you take more, you can get to the hospital with a severe dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and fast heartbeat, and the excessive quantity of the "sweet medicine" threatens with loss of consciousness and even a heart failure.

But the Gurungs believe that this precious product, when used properly, can cure many diseases and significantly improve the quality of life of people living in difficult conditions of highlands. They use it primarily as a mild anesthetic to alleviate a pain and improve their mood. Taking small doses regularly, in their opinion, is useful for improving immunity, treating hypertension and reducing the risk of the diabetes progression, it is also believed that the “red honey” is an excellent aphrodisiac agent. The sacred beeswax is sold to workshops in Kathmandu, where it is used for casting bronze statues of gods and goddesses.

Old well-tried remedy

It is noteworthy that out of the 1,000 species of rhododendrons in the world, only two or three species contain grayanotoxin in their pollen and nectar. They grow in small quantities in the south of Turkey, in the Caucasus and Nepal, some populations and varieties are found in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and several states of America, but there is no reason to talk about the massive honey harvesting because of sparce honey plant thickets.

The hallucinogenic effect of the “mad honey” was known in ancient times and was often used as chemical weapons. The first documented case of hallucinogenic honey intoxication dates back to 401 B.C. - the so-called “Campaign of ten thousand” under the leadership of the Greek commander Xenophon. The soldiers of his army, having tasted the mysterious honey, "began to wobble and talk deliriously, like intoxicated madmen." In 67 B.C., the army of King Mithridates deliberately used it to become fearless and completely defeat their Roman enemies.

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