Bee Keeing in Swaziland

I pride myself in providing tailor-made holidays, and I do like a challenge.  However the most recent trip to Swaziland I did have a rather odd request from Terry and Vicky - to look at a local bee keeping and to exchange methods and ideas.  Knowing quite a few people in Swaziland I did a bit of asking around and came back with Bulembu.  Bulembu is an old asbestos mining town in the highlands of eastern Swaziland which has a number of small industries such as bottling spring water, diary produce and honey production.

So we set off to Bulembu, along a rather bumpy, dirt road which is used by logging trucks hurtling along precipitous tracks.  We had to stop, rather quickly, to avoid a falling tree that was being manoeuvred across the road. At times I was wondering whether the sump would still be attached to the car when we got there, it was a was a horrific road.  We arrived in one piece, shaken but not stirred, to find Joel waiting for us to give us a guided tour of the honey extracting process.  My learning curve was vertical and Terry and Vicky were fascinated with the similarities of bee keeping in Swaziland with that of England.  The most interesting aspect was Joel's participation in it all.  He had originally been involved with the asbestos industry and once it all closed down he had been transferred to start up the bee keeping.  With just a book on bee keeping in Southern Africa and a bit of support he has built up a total of 900 hives in four years!  Terry and Vicky could not believe it all. 

After visiting a number of hives and looking at the combs and how they extracted the honey, discussing the problems of the honey badgers and other marauding animals it was time to return to Phophonyane Lodge. 

The sump is still attached.