![\"Beekeepers\"](\"\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/pictures\/enews-12-04-image001.jpg\")
\n <\/p>\n\n In a forest. In a bee suit. In the middle of
\n Tanzania. 100 miles away from Mikindani. With Tony
\n Herbert’s reputation. Most contrapuntal by
\n anyone’s standards but after spending five days with
\n our beekeeping mentor we knew better than to be surprised
\n by such a situation. Our quest to obtain two stocks of
\n bees had started on Tony’s arrival on the Saturday
\n but this particular episode had begun at 5am that very
\n morning.\n <\/p>\n
\n The objective of our trip to Masasi, a settlement known
\n for its history of beekeeping, was to purchase two hives
\n and colonies of bees to get the apiary up and flying. With
\n six of us packed tightly into the Land Rover we set off
\n West with the sun on our backs basking in the ever more
\n magnificent African sunrise. After breakfast at Mnazi
\n Mmoja (literally translates as “coconut one”
\n but why, no one seems to know) we reached the Regional
\n Resources Office in Masasi at about half past ten
\n following another particularly bruising journey on the
\n roads of Tanzania. After being promised a meeting with the
\n regional beekeeping liaison you can imagine our surprise
\n to find out he had left the office not more than half an
\n hour prior to our arrival. Needless to say, his phone was
\n either turned off or more likely, out of signal. Had our
\n quest for the holy pair of hives been scuppered by the
\n absence of one man?!\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite this set back, we were offered a glimmer of light
\n at the end of the tunnel by a man named Rodney, the
\n temporary liaison for Natural Sciences in the Masasi
\n district. He knew of a small village called Lipupu, around
\n 50 miles beyond Masasi that was notorious for its
\n beekeeping activities. It was a long shot but with Tony on
\n board we knew that anything was possible and so the
\n decision was made to press on.\n <\/p>\n
\n \n <\/p>\n
\n Sure enough, faith has its rewards. We found it without
\n any problems and were pointed straight towards the village
\n beekeeper’s house, signified by the array of unused
\n bee hives and interesting looking logs suspended outside
\n his house. One problem… occupant was nowhere to be
\n seen. We were ushered in to the woods by a group of locals
\n keen to show us the hives kept by the owner of the
\n intriguing house and were promised that he was not too far
\n away and that he only left about half an hour ago. Despite
\n being sure that we had heard those words before that day
\n we set off in to the middle of nowhere to investigate the
\n bees that we had been promised. We could not believe our
\n luck when the owner of the hives appeared from within the
\n bush and after many furrowed brows, tense looks and
\n careful negotiation we purchased our two colonies of Apis
\n Mellifera Scutellata, the African honey bee, to be
\n complemented by a further two log hives worth of sting
\n less bees. After all the setbacks of the day we felt we
\n has earned our luck in finding this beecon (sic.) of
\n beekeeping in an otherwise uninhabited part of Tanzania.
\n So, as we set of widdershins, driving in to the rain,
\n spirits were through the roof. The smile on
\n Tony’s face produced by this accomplishment never
\n disappeared for the rest his stay and it really was the
\n culmination of a tiring but wonderfully productive and
\n enjoyable week. For this we will be eternally grateful for
\n the hard work and never ending enthusiasm of one man.
\n Thank you Tony.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a forest. In a bee suit. In the middle of Tanzania. 100 miles away from Mikindani. With Tony Herbert’s reputation. Most contrapuntal by anyone’s standards but after spending five…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-1403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-december-2004"],"yoast_head":"\n