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Nectar of the gods, the world's most coveted honey by |
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Nectar of the gods, the world's most coveted honey by |
Tuesday,
June 14, 2005
PARIS: When two French beekeepers, husband and wife Thierry and Camille
Sergent, heard rumors about a mythical wild honey gathered on a tiny island
somewhere in the Indian Ocean, they knew adventure was beckoning. Famous
throughout the Arabic-speaking world for its alleged virtues as a medicine
and an aphrodisiac, the honey in question sells for upward of 150 euros
($180) a kilo. It is even mentioned in the Koran.
The trail led to the forgotten island of Socotra, 350
kilometers off the coast of Yemen, and the Sergents were both enthralled and
appalled at what they found.
The golden nectar was there, and unlike anything they had ever tasted: a heady
distillation of the island's unique and densely diverse flora.
What shocked them was the way the honey was collected and the destruction of the ecosystem that produced the island's only source of cash income.
"There is no sustainable apiculture here," said Camille. "The inhabitants scramble up the granite cliffs with bare feet and hands, sometimes risking their lives, to collect this wild honey which they sell for 15 euros ($18) a kilo only to be resold for 150 ($180) in the emirates," she said.
Even worse, the island's 80,000 inhabitants failed to prevent roaming and ravenous goats from devouring the tender shoots of Socotra's 850 plant species, one of the richest floral ecosystems in the world. Camille, also an ardent amateur biologist, rattled off some of the names: Boswellia (also known as the "incense tree"), the Dortenia fig, the juju berry, and sandragon, a "honey bush" that takes centuries to mature.
The French beekeepers decided to try to save Socotra's flora,
and offered to teach the island's inhabitants how to keep bees and make honey.
Everybody would come out a winner.
With seed money from the French Embassy in Yemen, the couple have made three
trips to Socotra in the last 18 months, to train the men and women of the
Bedouin tribes living there.
They brought 200 beehives and protective clothing, and taught 15 men how to use
them. In a more delicate operation, Camille - born in Lebanon and an Arabic
speaker - convinced the men to let the women take care of the equipment and the
wax.
As they wait for the first harvest of the sandragon honey, the Sergents are
preparing the next phase of their adventure.
"With an additional 200,000 euros ($240,000) already pledged, we hope to launch
a veritable business in 2006 in the form of a cooperative," Camille said.
The honey-coated story of Socotra is told in a documentary film by Richard
Hamon, to be premiered on French television in September. -
AFP.
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