I am visiting the Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique to better understand how the Houston Zoo can assist with the conservation of lions in the park.

The people living in this region have grown up with wildlife. They are excellent trackers and fisherman, and know how to turn a palm frond or grass reeds into dozens of products. Certain individuals have also learned to collect honey from wild beehives without damaging the hive. This is passed down from father to son over many generations and the tree we are visiting has been used for this purpose once a year for the past 4-5 generations.

So when we were invited out with staff to watch them collect honey from a Baobab tree, it was something not to pass up.

Mozambicans in the north have grown up learning to read wildlife. There is a species of bird here called the Honey Guide which will literally lead you to an active hive. First thing to do is head out into the field and mimic one of the birds calls and when you find it (or it finds you), follow its call and it leads straight to a beehive. The benefit to the Honey Guide in leading animals or people to the hives is they cannot raid the hives themselves so having someone else do it assures them of leftovers and the safety of not having to go against a hive of angry bees.

These are not just any beehives; they are massive in size – sometimes up to 4 feet long x 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. To hold something so heavy you need a strong tree and the bees use Baobabs which can live for hundreds of years and have broad branches.

To get at the hive in the tree (this hive is easily 150 feet up), they place pegs made from a specific hardwood tree into pre set holes that have been used for decades and climb up into the upper branches of the tree and with a bamboo torch and push the bees away from the hive and then collect a few of the honeycombs hanging from the hive.

There is no processing here; the honey goes directly into jars for use straight from the hive.

Keep coming back to hear more about my experience with the lions of Mozambique.

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