Written by: Aakanchhya Khadka - 27001, Grade VIII
Posted on: 16 February, 2023
Nepal may be a small country but a diverse one when it comes to geography.There are many places that are still unexplored till today's date. We nepalese like to boast ourselves about how our country is geographically diverse and how beautiful it is but there are many tribe and places that is unknown to us, that is also a good thing at least there will not be plastic wrappers everywhere but exploring through the internet I came across a tribe located in Lamjung, Tanje village .
Mad honey or hallucinogenic honey is a rare kind of honey found in high altitude usually at cliff side areas. It is considered to cause a lot of physiological reactions when consumed by any animal. This honey is believed to cause temporary hallucination, slow heart rate to paralysis according to the consummation of the person. The bees that harvest this honey found on high altitudes as the major ingredient for this honey is pollen of rhododendron .Some species of rhododendron are considered to have grayanotoxin, a special kind of neurotoxin.That can affect both cardiovascular and respiratory system but when mixed with mad honey it can cause severe sickness and diarrhoea.These bees are especially found in nepal and turkey regions.As in Nepal there are lot of hills or cliff areas so there are lots of rhododendron forests these meaning also bees in higher amount as these bees usually form their hives in cliff areas .
Talking about capturing this bee's honey is a task of great difficulty itself as the found on extremely dangerous cliffside and getting stung in higher amounts can actually kill you but there are peoples in Tanje village of Lamjung who have been following this profession since more than a century . It is said that about 200 years ago people migrated from Tibet in a search of agricultural land and to continue their further settlement and came across Tanje village which was rich in fertile land and resources but was dominated by hills. The started their settlement and which later became known as Tanje village.For centuries people of this village have been collecting hallucinogenic honey and trading which became the pride of the village.The days where people didn’t have proper equipment to protect themselves from the bees attack people of this village used to climb the cliff by help of just mere rope made from bamboo shoots in area where a small false move can literally kill you .
Inorder to collect the honey people usually divide work among themselves and firstly the attach the rope and create smoke inorder to scare the bees away and then a person climb through the ropes and carefully cut the bees wheel and extracts the honey.Though in the near future this culture might extinct people of this village are trying their best to preserve it .
