The Honey Hunters of Bangladesh - Asia Insight

[Applause] [Music] [Music] hi these are the forests of Southern [Music] Bangladesh The Men Who gather honey from the hives of wild bees are known as honey Hunters the honey they seek is valuable enough to justify their risky hunt as Urban Development progresses in Bangladesh the average income of City residents has steadily increased however this Prosperity has scarcely extended to rural regions to the people living there honey hunting presents an essential source of [Music] income this program follows honey Hunters armed with Knowledge and Skills carried down over the [Music] generations 10 hours drive from the capital

of DCA is a small village matur is located along Bangladesh's Southwestern coastal region due to the high salinity of the seawater affected soil the area is poorly suited to farming with no other Industries to speak of opportunities for direct income are few and far between in late March the men of the village Gather in preparation for their seasonal work leading the group is adum Ali gaji he's made many honey hunting trips over the course of four [Music] decades teams on the Expedition consist of around six people the first step is readying a boat gaji rented

the boat with borrowed money [Music] the boat allows them to travel directly to the most honey rich areas their hunting ground is the Sunder bonds Reserve Forest as the world's largest mangrove forest the area is recognized as a world natural heritage site [Music] the honey hunting season is confined to April and May when the mangroves are in [Music] bloom the tradition has been cherished for Generations in The Villages surrounding Sunder bonds which are home to over 1,000 [Music] Hunters gajji does some fishing during the off seon but it barely provides any income their entire family

depends on Gathering honey both gaji son and Grandson have joined the hunt the three of them together make less than $2,000 a year allowing their family to eek out a [Applause] living foree foreign fore spee forch [Music] sh shampo gajji purchases food and supplies for the men on his team this will be the first hunt of the season they plan for a 4-day Excursion they bring several barrels of fresh water during their trip they'll only have access to saltwater with daytime temperatures exceeding 40° C Water Supplies are vital all of these goods are purchased with

the borrowed money whether they can repay it will hinge on the success of their hunt [Music] last of all gaji visits the forest management Bureau entering the forest requires [Music] permission each member of their group needs approval to enter suer Bond's Forest this rule is strictly enforced to prevent over hunting and preserve the ecosystem the fee is $11 per person for the season naturally gaji pays it from the borrowed money as well there's one more reason that access to the forest is restricted it's the natural habitat of Bengal tigers [Music] the number of deaths in

this region due to tiger attacks is said to be one of the highest in the world although this man's shoulder was scratched by the huge feline he escaped with his life that evening the honey Hunters Gather in their boat [Music] together they pray for a safe journey and that the hunt will be a successful [Music] one they set out the morning of April 1st GJ's wife Halima is there to see them off she applies oil to the bow of the boat as a charm to ward off misfortune [Music] at last they depart for the forest

their goal for the 4-day trip is to gather 60 kg of wild honey after leaving the village they row their boat for 6 hours gaji signals his team to go ashore [Music] [Music] [Music] gaji knows the expanses of the vast Forest like the back of his hand he relies on memory to return to the site of beehives he discovered in past [Music] years he's found something sure enough a beehive The Hive is home to Giant honey bees with bodies over 2 cm long the insects aggressively defend their territory the hunters get ready for battle they

begin by rolling grass and leaves and lighting them a flame the smoke slows the bees movements making them less comb [Music] GJ's grandson hakeim swiftly cuts into the hive he aims to separate the section with the most honey he's able to skillfully cut it loose hakeim learned from his grandfather the importance of leaving half of the hive intact [Music] H gaji entrusts his team with the Harvest and heads toward a new task he fishes for their dinner a handful of small fish and shrimp the team emerges from the forest they've gathered honey from two more

hives their total haul for the first day is around 5 kg of honey that night they prepare potato curry with the seafood caught by gaji they get ready to sleep on the boat with tigers and other nocturnal Predators on the prow sleeping on land would be too perilous the boat is a tight fit for six men lying down light the group begins their hunt again as the sun rises [Music] the wetlands of the forest are a challenge to walk in spiking up from the ground are mangrove roots they find the beginning of a hive no

matter how rough the terrain the men press ahead to ensure the success of their hunt high in a tree is a massive Hive it's more than 1.5 M long however it's suspended 4 M up in the air they prepare their approach it's hakeim who Braves The Climb to retrieve the hive allahul the bees fiercely swarm around himar alhamdulillah hakeim has suffered a number of stinks thanks to the large Hive they found three times as much as on their first day around 15 kilog [Music] during this season many teams of Honey Hunters enter the [Music] forest

their strategies are diverse [Music] [Music] these so-called daily Hunters make single day trips with inflation On The Rise many people have turned to Honey hunting as a way to secure a quick source of [Music] income however a number of them do so without obtaining permission over hunting is caused by actions such as ripping out the entire Hive fundamentally affecting the forest's ecosystem traditional honey Hunters like gajji report that despite their best efforts they've seen diminishing returns in recent years they managed to gather 40 Kg on this trip far short of the 60 kg they had

hoped for they pin their hopes on future Expeditions and Sample the fruits of their labor T Test this with this taste their first hunt of the season comes to an end they begin the six-hour journey home [Music] even after returning their work isn't finished after selling the honey and repaying their debt they split the profits among the team the amount remaining for them is meager most hunters fill reusable bottles with their honey in order to offer it to dealers the method in invites further dishonesty by the [Music] resellers while resellers turn a profit with inferior

product the hunters have been locked into poverty but now this cycle is beginning to [Music] change these buyers are staff from an NGO called Beds which seeks to resolve poverty in Bangladesh and one way is by providing honey Hunters with a better in inome they extract the honey in front of the members of the NGO they do this in person to prove that the honey hasn't been diluted with things like water or sugar in addition to its Purity BS confirms that the Honey comes from hygienic conditions the better the quality the more they can pay

for it BS agrees to buy a batch [Music] they pay $9 per kilogram it's 20% more than the previous dealers had [Music] paid this hunt has provided gaji with enough income to get by for a month Benz has a special reason for their generous raids the honey is filtered heated and processed so that it can be preserved longterm they then bottle it and have it distributed establishing the brand as Sunder Bond's honey the profits support higher incomes for the honey [Music] Hunters they expect that the value of the local honey may increase in the future

[Music] [Music] since gaji started doing business with beds his income has increased helping to gradually improve his daily life to earn as much as possible during the brief hunting season he's already preparing for his next departure they have just one day off this time gaji decides to depart late at night the next day they'll be able to get an early start on a fresh round of Honey hunting [Music] spee [Music] [Music]