Malaysia’s honey hunters defy angry bees to harvest treetop treasure

Traditional Malaysian honey hunter Mohamad Khairi Mohamad Arshad cutting wood to make ladder for harvesting bee-nests from atop a giant Tualang tree in the greater Ulu Muda forests in Sik, northeast of the Malaysian state of Kedah. -AFP

ULU MUDA: On a moonless night deep in the Malaysian rainforest, two men perched precariously on high branches use a smoking torch to draw thousands of bees from a treetop hive, braving the angry swarm to collect their prized honey.

The honey hunters, as they are known, are rag-tag groups of villagers who head to remote corners of the jungle every year in search of the rare nectar, hidden in towering tualang trees.