Even though everyone had signaled to each other that everything was fine to boost morale after the rustling sound in the bushes, our heartbeats were racing faster than a bullet train.
Anyway! We all took a deep breath and headed toward the ravine.
The villagers’ stories, the forest scenery, and the fear of an animal lurking in the bushes had already stirred a storm in our minds—but that storm broke completely when we realized that to reach the hilltop where the bees’ hives were, we had to pass through a cave covered from the outside with Morenga (Sahjan) vines.
Through the greenery of the vines above the cave, the sunlight streamed down, reflecting off the rocks and dazzling our eyes as if the sun’s rays were enhancing the beauty of pearls in the ocean.
The beauty of the valleys was indeed captivating, but seeing the darkness inside the cave made everyone hesitate to take a step forward.
However, since our destination was filled with the sweetness of honey, and we had come so far facing numerous challenges to maintain your trust in the purity of our products, how could we lose courage?
Following the villagers’ advice, we lit the torches that had been prepared in advance to protect ourselves from both the darkness of the cave and any wild animals. Then, sticking together as a group, we began moving toward the cave…!!
We had barely gone a short distance inside the cave when the very danger we had feared appeared before us.
Moving ahead with the torches, suddenly a large, black-haired animal attacked one of the villagers walking at the back of our group with its paws. For a moment, we all froze like ice. But we were more in number, and holding torches in our hands, we could only see its glowing eyes in the dim light. Together, we advanced with the torches and managed to drive the animal out of the cave. Then, using the first aid kit we had brought along, we treated the injured villager.
After emerging from the other end of the cave into the sunlight, we saw that the animal was a large bear. Seeing the bear did not surprise us much, because in a forest where there was a treasure of honey, the presence of bears was natural.
After so much struggle, our destination finally lay before us, and the view was beyond all our life experiences. Looking at the bees’ settlement gave us immense joy, but even more astonishing was seeing hundreds of hives hanging from the hilltops, glistening in the sunlight like raindrops clinging to wires after the first shower of the monsoon.
They say nature is our mother, and to preserve its beauty, the bees—which are an integral part of it—perhaps sensed the hardships we had already faced, so they didn’t trouble us much. With the help of our team and the accompanying villagers, and using safety equipment, we began the honey collection process.
Using fire and smoke to gently drive away the bees while protecting the larvae (so that the bees could rebuild their hives in the same spot), we carefully cut and collected the honey-laden hives. As we had hoped, we successfully harvested approximately 1 ton (1000 kg) of honey.
After harvesting such a large quantity of honey, the joy of our hard-earned success was visible in everyone’s eyes. We somehow managed to transport the honey down to the jeep waiting at the base of the hill, and from there, we returned to Karvi Station at Chitrakoot Dham. Using transport, two members of our team sent the honey to our manufacturing office.
After bidding farewell to the three villagers who had accompanied us, we—committed to maintaining our customers’ trust and delivering pure honey to their homes—set out with our remaining two team members, Vikas and Gaurav, to the valleys of Ranibagh in Uttarakhand. These valleys, known for their eerie and frightening tales recorded in books and passed down by locals, are where our next honey-hunting expedition begins. Our team member Rajan had already reached there, establishing contact with the local inhabitants and gathering information about honey as well as other products enriched with the purity of nature.
Having shared the invaluable experiences from this journey with you, we are now setting out for Ranibagh for our next expedition.
