The honey hunters with porters to carry their food, water and equipment, and head into the forest to face the largest honeybees in the world

Travel

Photo story: the Nepalese honey hunters facing some of the largest bees in the world

The Gurung ethnic group has been collecting wild honey in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal for centuries, risking their lives to harvest sticky combs from cliff nests using ancient techniques handed down through 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.

Photograph by Dikpal Thapa

Story and photographs byDikpal Thapa

Published March 12, 2023

• 7 min read

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

Bhujung is one of the most remote settlements in the Lamjung 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.

Photograph by Dikpal Thapa