IN PICTURES: Amazing ‘honey-hunters’ who risk their lives in China to collect from hives
ByRoss Gilmore
Chinese ethnic Lisu honey hunter Mi Qiaoyun is surrounded by bees as he stands on a makeshift ladder while gathering wild cliff honey from hives in a gorge on May 11, 2019 near Mangshi, in Dehong prefecture, Yunnan province China.
Gathering wild honey is not for the faint of heart, as these people in Yunnan province in China show.
To get it, the “honey hunters” face swarms of bees and get stung repeatedly while suspended from rope ladders. Lower hives can often be reached with wooden ladders or poles.
Hunters suit up in protective gear and use smoke to scatter the giant Himalayan honey bees from their hives to reduce the risk of confrontation, but there are literally thousands of them in each hive.
