Honey Hunters of Cambodia (Apis florea)

Apis florea, one of two Asian honeybee species—the other being Apis dorsata— commonly hunted in Cambodia.
Featured
here are a few of the honey hunters in Battambang Province, during a
honey-hunting expedition with them on 29 October 2014, well over 25 km
from their village—up a highway, down a long and winding road, and over a
wet, slippery and flooded dirt track, to agricultural land when
numerous colonies were collected, using little more than cigarette smoke
and secateurs.

They chose an area heavily planted in pineapples,
where some fields were well-managed, and others, thick with weeds and
brush—perfect hideouts for the bees they were after!
The honey
hunters are excellent bee spotters, pinpointing colonies from afar, by
observing their movement. They certainly saw things that I couldn’t see!

These
honey hunters—their wives stay home and sell their loot—go out daily
from October to March, with only a break during the rice harvest.
Numerous sites are combed, with return visits to each, on a fortnightly basis.

After
a morning in the field, searching for hives to harvest, these honey
hunters returned home for lunch, and their wives took care of the
rest—arranging the combs on trays, setting them up along the highway
that cuts through the village—home to 30-odd honey-hunter families—and
waiting for drivers to stop by and buy…