Makhel : Back to the Origin

A Future without Buzz

|Rock Bee Hunting in the Saramati Range of Nagaland |

Honey Bees pollinate about one third of our food crops including our flowers and fodders. It has been celebrated in art and culture throughout history for providing us with this valuable service. Belonging to the genus ‘apis’ scientists estimate there are thousands of species of bees in the world. The most common to us being Apis Cerena, Apis Mellifera, Apis Florea and Apis Dorsata/Laborosia. The species that is the focus of this piece is the species A.Dorsata/Laborosia or commonly referred to as ‘rock-bees’

Rock Bee Hunting: An Ancient Art

Rock bees or the giant Himalayan honey bee as it is called is mostly found in the tropical and sub-tropical forest and native to South Asia and South-East Asia . As the name suggests they hang and build their hives in some of the tallest mountains and giant cliff hangings. Most of the rock bee sites tend to be located in areas of high altitude approximately 2500m -3000m above sea level.  An average rock-bee site can contain upto 40-50 hives and at most 100 hives. Each nest can contain about 10-50 liters of honey and 2 Kgs. of wax. The fact that they do not make use of enclosed cavities for nesting but hang vertically above have made attempts at domesticating them literally a futile exercise. Rock bees migrate over long distances and their foraging range can be as far as 5 Km.

Arana Cave Painting, Valencia Spain  

The tradition of rock bee hunting is generally associated with forest dwelling hunting pastoral tribes and communities. The tradition is as old as human civilization and the earliest evidence of rock bee hunting does as far back as 8000 B.C. in the Arana cave painting in Valencia Spain. Rock-bee hunting is the collecting and harvesting of honey from colonies of wild honey bee. The honey hunters commonly employ smoke to disorient and disperse the colony using long flexi- ladders , a collecting basket and a long handle spatula to cut and scrape the comb. In Asia it is common to use bamboo, cane and plant reeds as raw materials for the tools used. Apart from honey which has become a ubiquitous part of our modern diet honey because of its anti-microbial properties is extensively employed in traditional medical practices and cures.  Bee larvae are eaten and highly valued a source of protein. Beeswax is another byproduct used in cosmetics, food processing, pharmaceuticals ,etc. 

The Saramati range is often referred to the hills on the Patkai Mountain range on India’s North-East region bordering Myanmar. Mount Saramati standing at 3,848m is the highest peak in the Patkai Mountain range.  Saramati range extends to the district of Tuesang . The Mountain range is covered with rich and diverse forest types ranging from sub-tropical Evergreen to temperate and alpine vegetation.  The Saramati region is also replete with a rich deposit of minerals like magnetite, Granite, Sandstone and Limestone . And hanging precariously from these verdant limestone cliffs that dot the hills of the Saramati here are hundreds of rock bee colonies.

I travelled to Kiphere about 350 kms. from the state capital Kohima and one of the two places in Nagaland where the Saramati range extends to learn more. Kiphere is blessed with a wide variety of flora and fauna making it one of the biodiversity hotspots in North-East India. Among some of them are trees such as Bogipoma, Lalipoma, Bonsom, Titachap(Michelia Champa), Gamari; a wide variety of orchid and rhododendron species , birds like the blythe tragopan, Indian Hornbill including animals such as Tiger, Black Bears,Slender Loris, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Jungle Cat  and Mithun.  I am in Pungro, sub-division under Kiphere district which is home to the Yimchunger Naga tribe to interview some of the rockbee hunters who have not only kept this age old tradition alive but still carry out the art of rockbee hunting.

There are about ten villages in the whole of Pungro sub-division which actively practice rockbee hunting in Pungro. Mimi village is one among them. 75 kms from Pungro town, Mimi also ranks highest terms of total production of honey and wax according to state official data. I intended to spend some time with the rockbee hunters from Mimi to discuss and understand the tradition and the state of rockbee hunting today. But unpredictable weather, incessant monsoon rain and bad road condition leading up towards the village meant that I could not go to Mimi. Fortunately, with the help of Tsulimew ,community leader and my guide in Pungro, I was able to meet few of the honey hunters  from Mimi who are settled in Pungro some of them permanently and some temporarily.        

Rockbee hunting is deeply entrenched in the collective psyche of the Yimchungers. Rockbee hunting among Yimchunger Nagas is a highly specialized art form. They have come to develop a complex system of rituals, beliefs and myths associated with rockbee hunting. Although with the advent of Christianity some of the traditional practices have come to be in the wane. And in the absence of any writing there is not much record about rockbee hunting.  However a large body of knowledge related to the tradition of rockbee hunting is still well stored and passed down in the Yimchunger oral tradition. For instance, the ownership and inheritance of rock bee sites is done without recourse to any ledger or other written code. Y. Makhezo a prominent social worker, entrepreneur and rockbee hunter from Mimi based in Pungro informed me that ownership of a rockbee site was primarily based on the initial sighting of the site by a person or group,  a day for the hunt was then decided upon, executed and the spoils shared among themselves. Inheritance of a site, he describes, was based on clan and family affiliations and could extend beyond the boundary of the village and may even be located in the territory of another village. The owner of the site also possessed the right to trade off these sites under certain circumstances such as if the rockbee site happened to be very far from the village.      

Rockbee hunting is essentially a community affair and beyond the prowess of a single man or woman. Participation of women is another important aspect of rockbee hunting among the Yimchungers. Although tasks  such as climbing the ladder and shearing of the comb above is the domain of the men, the work below is mostly done by the ladies. From collecting water, firewood and preparing food for the group to filtering and storing the honey the women folk actively take part in the hunt which can go on for three to four days depending on the site and the harvest. The husband and wife duo of R. Achimpong and Tsisang Yimchunger from Mimi who have been engaged in the practice of rockbee hunting for the last thirty years shared with me their experience and expert knowledge in the field.

They informed me how the tradition and skill was passed early onto them by their fathers and elders when they were still in their adolescence. The process was slow and gradual from a stage of passive onlooker to doing rudimentary chores to eventually becoming professionals in the art. They also narrated about a time before the demarcation of the Indo-Myanmar border when they actively traded across the border. Honey and beeswax formed an important part of that bygone cross-border trade era. Beeswax in particular was in high demand and traded for things like Dao(traditional Naga Machette) and animals like Mithun, pigs and dogs. They also told me how there are pocket of Yimchunger villages on the other side of the border who shared familial relationships and kinship ties with their brethrens on the Indian side. Even today despite restrictions on free movements Yimchunger Nagas like R.Achimpong depend on these networks of relationship to frequent beyond the border.

Saramati Range from my balcony in Pungro

Deforestation: A New Way of Life

The drawing of the Indo-Myanmar lines in the post-colonial context has had grave consequences. The market that previously existed for honey and wax has died out but with it the rockbees have also disappeared. This has greatly affected the honey hunters here who have traditionally relied on their forests and rockbess for livelihood, sustenance and well being. The verdant forests stripped naked and pruned continue to generously support them even today however but in a different and perhaps an unfortunate way.

In the absence of other sources of livelihood timber trade today provides the people with an alternative, not to mention it is rather a lucrative source of livelihood. However, the costs run far higher than the benefits ensued from this modern day occupation. A World Wide Fund (WWF) research pointed out that the international timber trade is now the primary cause of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. This finding was contrary to the popular perception that shifting or jhum cultivators were thought to be mainly responsible for the loss of forest cover. I met Yansomong Yimchunger, a timber logger from Pungro, who has been in the business for the last twenty years. Yansomong provided a detail picture of the state of logging in the region.

A Denuded Hillscape in Pungro

Most of the timber here is sold to markets out in the south mainly in Kohima and in some meager quantity in Dimapur. Bonsom, Lalipoma, and Tita Chap are the most important commercial trees. As work allotment letter/ scheme for legal logging provided by the District Forest Officer (DFO) was difficult to acquire  most of the logging was carried out illegally involving a nexus of people from the local administration, forest officials, insurgent outfits and the state police department. Given the scale of logging in the region I was surprised by the total absence of any forest check gates covering the stretch between Kiphere and the state capital Kohima. Ironically, the only forest check gate that one could see posted was under the Manipur forest department  as we passed through the border town of Jessami, north of Ukhrul district in Manipur and lying in between the Phek and Kiphere districts in eastern Nagaland.  Reports of such indiscriminate destruction forests are not uncommon in the state. Even national parks have recently come under the axe of illegal logging. The Intanki national park in Peren district in South-East Nagaland has become a safe haven for encroachers reducing the forest cover by more than half in recent times. Writing on the forests of North-East India Tiplut Nongri a Delhi based scholar from Meghalaya contends that, “the national forest policy has failed to achieve its objectives in the North-Eastern states”. He identifies in the forest policy a serious drawback and holds it responsible for the massive loss of region’s green cover.

A Timber Shop in Kohima

A Burgeoning Kohima City

Forest Policy or Colonial Legacy:

India after her independence inherited a forest policy that was strongly influenced by colonial rule. The forests of North-East Frontier as North-East India was formerly known became key in the efforts towards colonial economic expansion and growth. Huge tracts of forested areas were cleared for tea plantations, sleepers for the railway and wood for the navy. It went onto establish many plantations of trees like teak and pine with little regard for the quality of the forests. It was in a way precursor to our modern monocultural practices in agriculture which has raised many concerns. State monopoly and control over forest in North-East India is a subject rife with conflict since the people depend almost entirely on the forest. In post-colonial context forest policy in India based on a colonial legacy has further curtailed the rights of the forest dwelling tribes and communities. Large areas consolidated under forest department for reservation and protection has paradoxically gone hand in hand with the rampant destruction of forest cover. The anthropogenic pressure was borne by those forest areas that were still unclaimed by the forest department.  Rajib Handique an Assamese scholar commenting on the forest policy in Assam writes that, “the forest department of Assam has been, since its inception in the nineteenth century, one of the biggest landlords.”

Joint Forest Management (JFM) and Social Forestry programs were introduced keeping in mind the underlying issue between state control and community rights of forests. But even these have had only limited success. The forest department in the states has been reluctant to adopt JFM in reserved and protected areas since it entailed mutual responsibility and sharing of resources. Social Forestry Program on the other hand has been unpopular because a clear ownership of property has to be first established in a region where land/forest is under the customary control of clan, community or tribe. Legislation like the Forest Rights Act 2006, aimed at providing title deed and private ownership on land can only exacerbate the problem of depleting forests and biodiversity.   

A Future without Buzz: A Catastrophic Warning

The honey hunters that I met from Mimi tell a very tragic tale.  It’s a story of unrestricted exploitation of their forests, of political and administrative decadence, of descend from self-sufficiency to bondage to a narrow materialistic worldview and the irreparable loss of rockbees. And just as these honey hunters are mourning this loss, massive death of honey bee colonies described as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) are being reported from around the world at the same time. The phenomenon of CCD is mainly attributed to monoculture agricultural practices, extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides and infection from a parasitic mite called ‘varroa destructor’.  Although the links between CCD and the disappearance of rockbees may not be conspicuous there is actually a deep connection between the two. They are related in the sense that they are both part of a cultural myopia that characterize our modern economy.

A Poster Outside Kohima Town

Development and progress projected as the panacea for most of the ills of world have in fact become serious threats to the health of our planet. In regions like the North-East India the adage of “civilizing the wild tribes” that had legitimized colonial hegemony has been carefully modified and reinvigorated into “developing the North-East”.  Like colonialism which for the colonial masters was a moral obligation to civilize the savage and backward races development today has come to be privileged and projected as a modern liberal ‘dharma’ to proselytize the whole world with the new faith of progress. This ideal of progress, however, fails to take cognizance of the fact that if everyone in the world were to start consuming like an average person in the so called “developed world” then even three planet earths may not suffice. While national freedom movements in Asia and Africa had successfully overthrown colonial regimes these movements became domesticated and fettered again to a new paradigm of development. Post-colonial policies and reforms in India have simply tended to borrow these ideas of development and imposed them on its populace.  Our insatiable search for development and progress means that much of the planet’s biodiversity has to bear the brunt. The scale of destruction and assault on our planet’s living systems is unprecedented.  In the context of North-East India and states like Nagaland, a political culture marked by corruption and decades old insurgency only exacerbate the crisis of forest and biodiversity loss.  

A good direction to change this and move towards finding a possible solution is to start by realizing the importance of biodiversity for sustenance and regeneration of our planet. A sustained and dedicated effort by government and non-governmental agencies and most importantly concerned individuals is desired. In the context of the rockbee hunters of Pungro the ‘Nagaland Beekeeping and Honey Mission’ in collaboration with ‘Najavbai Ratan Tata Trust Mumbai’ made interventions starting from 2007 to “promote and develop a scientific and sustainable beekeeping industry.” However the mission like the rockbees themselves seems to have mysteriously died out and since 2013 stopped making excursions in the area. Apart from the ephemeral nature of such scientific and technological interventions there exists another problem.

Modern scientific method and intervention often tend to be pejorative when dealing cultures and communities like the Yimchunger Nagas. The ideology of scientific forestry based on the sharp separation between an objective empirical world and a subjective social environment is contrary to the science and view of the Yimchunger Nagas for whom the forest is not simply a geological entity but imbued with sacred spirits and deities which look after their well being. Their culture and identity is a manifestation of this intimate relationship with the natural world. And thus these forests closely interwoven with their lives cannot be easily reduced in the utilitarian sense of “resources and commodity” to be exploited for material means and gains. They share a symbiotic relationship in which man and nature nurture each other. The scientific method as our modern economy is witness to  has the adverse effect of encouraging an attitude of manipulation and reducing our forest and nature into commodities of profit. 

Through a deeper understanding of the relationship the honey hunters from Pungro share with their forests one can begin to appreciate the contribution made by these real daredevil legends who have for ages replenished the forests sufficiently enough for rockbee colonies to thrive. I would like to end with a quote by Albert Einstein who remarked, “If the bees disappeared from the surface of the globe then men would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more  pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” At a time when the world’s biodiversity is being threatened by the rapid pace of developmental activities the words of Einstein if not apocalyptic is certainly a catastrophic warning!

Bridge To A Future Without Buzz