HONEY HUNTERS

The Gurung ethnic group has been collecting wild honey in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal for centuries, risking their lives to harvest the sticky combs from cliff nests using ancient techniques handed down through the generations. The honey hunters will leave their village with porters to carry their food, water and equipment, and head into the forest to face the largest honeybees in the world

- DIKPAL THAPA

Bhujung is one of the most remote settlements in the Lamhung district of central Nepal, hidden in a lush valley and surrounded on all sides by emerald mountains. There are around 800 houses here, packed densely together, belonging to the Gurung community, which still holds onto its traditional ways. Madan Singh Gurung, pictured left, is a senior honey hunter, having collected the delicacy, just as his ancestors did, for two decades. Here, he sits at the base of a harvest site, supervising the procedure while wearing a net over his face to protect him against the bees’ stings.