Becoming a Son of Cairo

After a long jaunt through Northern Tanzania to learn about stingless bees and also to take in the sights of Lake Victoria, the Northern Circuit (Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, etc) and Zanzibar I flew to Cairo.

I landed at Cairo International Airport at 2AM and rather than braving the early morning taxi drivers opted to hang out and read until the sun came up. I eventually grabbed a public bus to the downtown area. While trying to tell the bus driver where I wanted to be let off he kept saying "Tahrir? Tahrir?" and I would say "No! No!" We ended up in Tahrir anyway... but all was well. I used the burned up National Democratic Party building as a landmark to find my hotel.

Egyptian Museum with scorched remains of Mubarak's National Democratic Party headquarters behind.

Corner of Tahrir Square

Balcony of sketchy hotel I stayed at for first night in Cairo.

Kushari - a traveller's best friend and my favorite dish so far (macaroni and spaghetti noodles with chickpeas, onions, and lentils). For this feast I also had some felafel (ta'amiyya), salad (salata), and pita bread (aish).

Cool downtown accommodation at the Pension Roma. The balcony was nice, but mosquitoes came under the door at night and attacked my forehead!

Exploring Cairo has been amazing. Walking around the city center I can't help but feel that I have been transported from Tanzania into a modern European city! Traffic is terrible and disorganized, but infrastructure seems satisfactory and the streets - when you can see through the persistent cloud of smog - are lined with high rise buildings (some residential types have about a thousand satellite dishes protruding from every roof). I am surely not in Europe, but the perceived affluence and order here still seems striking when compared to Dar es Salaam - and this country is in the midst of a revolution! Proper shops for clothing and mobile phones abound and there is a restaurant or cafe on every corner. While in Tanzania I always felt like I was being watched, but here it seems like most people don't have any interest in what I am doing - they are too busy - which gives me a greater feeling of freedom.


I have officially crossed the halfway point in the Watson year, but the road ahead still stretches beyond the horizon.The journey itself continues to motivate.

I certainly have much to learn here and am excited to begin my time in Egypt, home to the earliest recorded beekeeping tradition. 

To Build a Hive

Another charge made against local beekeepers is that local style hives are "very bad" because they are destructive to forests... meaning that it would better if beekeepers switched to the box/top bar style hives. I have heard this claim from regional commissioners, forest officers, foreign beekeeping agents, and many others while I have been in Tanzania.

At first, I thought they might be right - I had seen many girdled trees during my train journey to the west and suspected these were caused by the production of bark hives - but I I refused to give in so easily.

After much effort, I have finally seen the process (and learned the facts) for myself.

"Follow the bee" - I thought the verse from Psalms on Udoya's mud flap might be related to bees, but it isn't...

 Forest permits acquired, lunches packed, and motorcycles fueled we met at 6AM and traveled 75km south into the forest to the bush camp and Udoya's 1,000 hives.

It is amazing how this beekeeper navigated through the immense forest. There were some easy references along the barely existent road, but eventually everything just looks the same. I asked if he had a map to keep track of all his hives and he told me that there is no map, that he just keeps track of them all mentally. After a few minutes of careful watching he sighted the place to turn off and we went directly to where he wanted to put some new hives. Without wasting a minute he found a fallen tree, cut a log of appropriate length, and went to work cleaning off the bark. While Charley finished smoothing the exterior, Udoya fashioned a few wedges from dead branches he found on the ground.

Next, he began the process of splitting the log, which consisted of an initial cut and then careful additions of wedges and precision strikes from a sledge hammer.

We had accomplished so much after only a few hours, but it was hard work and we were ready for lunch. Udoya guided us through the forest labyrinth to his bush camp. He and his son live here about three months out of the year while they are harvesting honey. I have heard of large crews of extended family going into the Ugalla Game Reserve for harvesting, but Udoya prefers to keep his crew small and simple (certainly increasing his personal profits).

After lunch we returned to our hive and made the final preparations. We charred the inside to attract bees and then rubbed some wax on the inside. The minerals liberated by burning are known to draw bees and starter wax is commonly used worldwide as bait for swarms. Udoya was covering his bases. I have also been told that cow dung and bananas are used in Tanzania to attract bees to new hives.

Rubbing bees wax inside the hive

After all the work I was greatly surprised when we began rigging the hive to be hung vertically! In all of my research (book and field) up to this point I had only known of horizontal hives in Tanzania (bark, log, grass, even the box hives), but this one was to be vertical and I later saw many others of the same design in the Yela Yela area. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died while Udoya climbed the tree (so no pictures) and hoisted our creation to its resting place.

I was able to get a picture of another vertical hive later.

Vertical log hive in a mango tree. Some trees would have as many as five or six hives scattered among their branches.

These vertical hives seem pretty nice. I think bees prefer growing vertically, but it is hard for me to say in this context because I was unable to see the inside with a living colony. Whereas it is possible to take honey without completely destroying the hive in Tanzania's local horizontal systems, I fear these vertical creations are probably very hazardous for bees during the harvest season. I don't think it is possible to leave much comb attached after taking honey (which would be stored in the wax at the top of the hive).

After much contemplation and further discussions concerning the environmental impact of local beekeepers I have come to the following conclusion. First, grass hives are never a problem. Second, the impact of girdling trees for bark hives is troubling, but could be overcome by making multiple hives from one tree. Third, log hives are okay as long as the whole tree is being utilized. There is an argument against log hives which says that log hives are made from trees which have not reached maturity, whereas professional timber companies harvest more responsibly. I think it is easier to hold timber companies accountable (though I doubt this really happens), but maintain that if beekeepers are using one tree for multiple hives, maturity is not really a problem - even if bigger trees are harvested, by the time the sides are trimmed down and pieces wasted I suspected there isn't much more timber being acquired by logging operations.

A few other thoughts.

- maybe if I made it to the really big forest in Inyonga my mind would be changed...
- taking beeks out of forest (why emphasize keeping hives close to home when thieves are a problem) will ultimately be bad for forests
- all officials acknowledge that tobacco is a bigger problem for forests, but tobacco makes a lot of money for the country and so is allowed.
- new tech is expensive
- old tech lasts a long time and is easily renewable
- old tech is hands-off; new requires much more time
- with new tech comes treatment and other interference with natural processes, ultimately weakening the present bee population which is very strong

While I have no doubt acquired much insight concerning beekeeping issues in Tanzania, I am not in a position to confidently prescribe policy or definitively say that this or that is "right" or "wrong." Ultimately, the people have to decide what works best in each community. The downside is, I fear, that the voices of those with the most knowledge and who will be most affected (the beekeepers) by changes are the least likely people to be heard when it comes to the future of apiculture in the country.