Award-winning UK-based travel photographer Andrew Newey recently visited the central Nepalese Gurung tribe to photograph them participating in the ancient and rather dangerous tradition of honey hunting. Twice a year the Gurung honey hunters ascend to the base of cliffs located in central Nepal to collect honey using the same tools that their ancestors have done for thousands of years. Honey collecting is thought to be one of the oldest known human activities with cave paintings as old as 8,000-years-old depicting a man climbing vines to collect honey.
Using hand-woven rope ladders and long sharp bamboo poles they first smoke the bees out from the base of the cliff to make them more docile before they climb up and cut the honey filled hives from the face of the cliff and drop them into baskets below. The honey that the Gurung collect is produced by The Himalayan honey bee, one of the largest bees in the world with a length of up to 3 cm (1.2 in). Their honey fetches high prices in Japan, Korea and China. You can see more of Newey’s photos here.
Source: andrewnewey.com
h/t boredpanda.com
