Ca MauLiving on U Minh Ha national forest, many local people have a profession of guarding bees and developing into a type of eco-tourism, attracting visitors to experience.
U Minh Ha National Forest covers an area of over 8.000 hectares, with a diverse ecosystem, rich flora and fauna, especially bees stay all year round. Local people have a traditional job of guarding bees to exploit forest honey.
Muoi Ngot Community Eco-tourism Area, 60 hectares wide in Khanh Binh Tay Bac commune, Tran Van Thoi district, is located on the buffer zone of U Minh Ha national forest, operating since 2015. The large area of Melaleuca trees, far from residential areas, is quiet, so this tourist area attracts bees to nest.
Pham Duy Khanh, owner of Muoi Ngot tourist area, shared that his family has been working as a beekeeper and honey mining for nearly 20 years. The attic is like building a house for bees to live in, the worker will make the guard truss, welcome the direction of the wild bees to nest, only about half a month will have results. The hive is large, the bees are many, so the hive here is usually up to 1-2 meters in size, each rafter can attract 2-3 generations of bees to build the nest. Khanh's facility used to exploit a beehive over 2 meters long, recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization as the largest beehive in Vietnam in 2021.
Honey miners at Muoi Ngot eco-tourism area. Image: Khanh Duy
When developing a community-based tourism model, Mr. Pham Duy Khanh put his job as a beekeeper into an experience activity for visitors. They are involved in guarding the truss, collecting honey, trapping fish, exploring nature. Khanh's melaleuca forest currently has 1.000 bees, of which about 200 have bees.
Visiting the ecological area, visitors will be immersed in the unspoiled nature and experience going to collect honey. Groups of tourists can sit on a canoe, weave their way through the canals under the canopy of the primary Melaleuca forest and through the fields of reeds, on the way tourists will meet the swarm of conifers, the birds of the pan, the flying pulley, watching the nests of the pulley birds floating on the Melaleuca trees..
Arriving at the honey collection site, each person was given a net to protect their face and used tinder to smoke away bees. Whoever is brave will go to the hive to collect honey with the rafters, the rest will stay on the boat. Those who approach the hive will see firsthand how wild honey is exploited, bringing out the honeycomb and fragrant honey.
Visitors eat young bees and honey after harvesting. Photo: Khanh Duy
After taking honey, visitors can enjoy the honey and bees on the spot still in the cocoon. The sweet taste of wild honey mixed with the fleshy taste of young bees creates an unforgettable feeling.
Ms. Huong Linh, a tourist from Hanoi, first witnessed the honey collection process firsthand, when hundreds of bees rushed out to surround her with both fear, excitement, and joy when receiving the results of delicious bee cocoons.
After collecting honey, visitors can enjoy a country meal with freshly caught fish, bananas, water lilies and field vegetables grown in the Melaleuca forest. Mr. Pham Duy Khanh said that the plants here do not have chemicals because the bees are very sensitive, they will leave when they detect that the living environment is not clean.
With the value brought, the profession of bee guarding of people in the U Minh Ha Melaleuca forest area, Ca Mau province has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The local government continues to mobilize people to work as bee guards to preserve the typical culture of Ca Mau Melaleuca forest.
The profession has become a tourism product of some eco-tourism areas in Ca Mau, which is included in the tour program to serve tourists to experience when going back to U Minh Ha national forest, helping visitors better understand the lives of local people.
Tourists trap fish in the melaleuca forest. Image: Khanh Duy
In addition to experiencing honey in U Minh Ha forest, when coming to Ca Mau land, visitors can also participate in eco-tourism activities such as clam hunting, Ba Khia (a type of crab), harvesting shrimp and fish, trapping mudskippers.
Ca Mau province is the last piece of land of the country, nearly 300 km from Ho Chi Minh City. From Ho Chi Minh City, there are many sleeper buses to Ca Mau every day or by plane. From Hanoi, visitors can also fly directly to Ca Mau.
