Go to U Minh to see how bees eat honey.

Text and photos:Quynh Ha

While Năm Căn boasts the mangrove trees typical of the mangrove forest type, U Minh is renowned for its white-flowered Melaleuca trees, representing the freshwater swamp forest. This forest has created a fascinating ecological space for the fertile land of Cà Mau. This type of forest is very distinctive, unique, and rare in the world, and has therefore been included in the conservation and development plan according to international standards.

This forest is divided into two parts, with the natural boundary being the Trẹm River and the Cái Tàu River. The upper part is called U Minh Thượng, and the lower part is U Minh Hạ. Compared to the past, the U Minh forest has been significantly destroyed and is no longer as lush as I imagined when I read Sơn Nam's *Fragrance of the Cà Mau Forest* during my school days.

In this region, nothing is more delightful than going into the forest to see the melaleuca blossoms every spring. Our guide, Truong, took us deep into the heart of the forest to admire the pristine melaleuca trees. Venturing deep into the forest, the group enjoyed the sight of the rows of melaleuca trees swaying gently, their branches rustling softly. The buzzing of bees searching for nectar in the wind was a delightful sound. Amidst the unspoiled forest, with its light spring breeze, a small boat occasionally sped through the forest, cutting through the waves towards Ca Mau city. Pointing to the rows of plastic containers on the boat, Truong told me, "These are the boats that go to collect honey in the forest."

When mentioning U Minh, one cannot fail to talk about its specialty: Melaleuca forest honey. Compared to other types of honey, Melaleuca forest honey is ranked first because of its superior quality. The Melaleuca trees in U Minh are of two types: the yellow-flowered Melaleuca, which provides timber or can be used to extract medicinal Melaleuca essential oil; and the white-flowered Melaleuca, whose flowers have a sweet fragrance, attracting bees to build nests in the dense forest. At this time, the entire Melaleuca forest is covered in white blossoms, which is when beekeepers flock to the forest to collect this rare and precious natural honey.

In the southwestern region of Vietnam, the craft of beekeeping on mangrove forest branches is almost exclusively found in the U Minh area. To excel at this profession, beekeepers require skillful hands and experience. According to experienced beekeepers, the beekeeping frame is made from fresh, vibrant green mangrove branches. After cutting the branches, the beekeeper skillfully finds and selects a suitable location to attach them to the tree. This mangrove tree must be large, located far from trails, in an area with little human traffic, but with some shade. Bees are very finicky; if the mangrove tree is too shady or too sunny, they will not choose it for their nest. This also affects the quality of the honey.

Setting up beehives might seem easy, but it's actually quite a laborious process. After setting up the hives, the beekeeper must clean the surrounding branches to prevent obstruction during honey harvesting. To obtain good honey, the hives must be selected and set up before the melaleuca flowering season, about two months in advance. The best time to set up the hives is around October or November. At this time, the weather in the Mekong Delta is at the end of the rainy season. The late rains will wash away any traces, and the hives will have enough time to dry, just like other dry branches. It's said that bees have a very keen sense of smell; if a hives show any suspicious signs, the bees will immediately avoid it. Once the hives are set up, the beekeeper simply checks them periodically, calmly waiting for the bees to build many nests, and then, when the season comes, they harvest the honey for personal use or sale.

In spring in U Minh, the forest suddenly becomes bustling with groups of beekeepers heading into the woods to ply their trade. The more people there are, the more exciting and thrilling it becomes. To prepare for the bee-hunting season, in addition to pots of fish, rice, drinking water, mosquito repellent, and blankets, the beekeepers also need to prepare many torches made from dried coconut leaves. They then dip the torches in water to slightly wet them, so that when lit, they produce a lot of smoke, suffocating the bees and causing them to scatter far from their hive. At this point, the beekeeper begins to use a sharp knife to pierce the hive, allowing the honey to flow out through a prepared channel. Someone standing below then uses a plastic container to collect the honey, commonly called a "bee basket." Slowly, the thick, pure honey flows out until all the honey is gone.

In Ca Mau, if you have the chance to try the local honey-based specialty, you'll surely remember it forever. Here, they mix young bees with wild banana blossoms, Vietnamese coriander, fried onions, and finely ground roasted peanuts to make a salad, served with a sweet and sour fish sauce. The dish may seem unusual, but if you sit by the sun-drenched melaleuca forest in the peaceful spring scenery, sipping it with a small glass of spicy rice wine... it's absolutely fantastic!

Additional information:

The U Minh Melaleuca Forest is located approximately 55 km from the center of Ca Mau city. If you are traveling by motorbike, follow National Highway 63 north towards Tran Van Thoi district for more than 50 km, and you will reach the entrance to the U Minh Forest.

Currently, air travel to Ca Mau is very convenient for tourists from the North and Central regions. You can book tours through travel companies.

The distance from Ho Chi Minh City to Ca Mau is approximately 350km. If traveling by road, you should take Phuong Trang bus, with ticket prices ranging from 230,000 to 250,000 VND per person.

When traveling to Ca Mau, the best time to visit is during the dry season, which lasts from October to April of the following year.
Hotels in Ca Mau only meet 1-3 star standards, with prices ranging from 250,000 to 2,000,000 VND.

+ Cuisine: Seafood in Ca Mau is very fresh. You can buy honey, dried shrimp, crab with roe, fermented crab paste, and pickled water spinach as gifts for friends.

Besides visiting the U Minh Melaleuca Forest, you can also visit other interesting places such as Da Bac Island, Ngoc Hien Bird Sanctuary, Hon Khoai Island, etc.

The Thanh