Eliminating Blood Honey

Supporting Tiger Conservation in the Sundarbans

- Ratul Saha

The boat glides slowly into a channel between two islands. The silhouettes of the mangrove trees rear up like sentinels into the clear night sky, just hours before dawn. Sanatan Sardar, 35, barely notices the mysterious beauty of the Sundarbans forests; he is more concerned about guiding his boat with his group into the Sundarbans to collect wild honey. Moulis like Sanatan are the traditional honey gatherers in the Sundarbans who venture into the forest during honey collection season, which lasts for about three months in a year. 

Sanatan is from the Sardarpara village on Satjelia island of Sundarbans and is the leader of his group, the most experienced and skilled. The people in his group, mostly family members, venture out together with each trip lasting between 7 and15 days. The Forest Department issues a license every season to leaders like Sanatan for collection of wild honey from the Sundarbans. Over 3,000 honey collectors are issued permits each year to enter designated forest areas for honey collection. Honey collectors make nearly ₹6,000 every month during the season. However, such forays into the forest are fraught with danger. In the past 15 years, nearly 100 honey collectors have lost their lives to tiger attacks. Therefore, the moniker ‘blood honey’.

Sanatan and his group are well aware of this danger and exercise precautions. While in the forest, certain members of the group specially act as lookouts for tigers, and post collection, each group anchor their boat only in the middle of the creek between islands to prevent tiger attacks. However, in spite of such precautions, honey collectors are still at risk. These men are the sole earning members of their families, and an attack could put the future of an entire family at risk.