Go to U Minh to see bees eating honey

Article and photos:Quynh Ha

If Nam Can has mangrove trees that are typical of mangrove forests, U Minh is famous for its white cotton trees, representing freshwater flooded forests. This forest has created a fascinating ecological space for the fertile land of Ca Mau. This is a very special, distinct, unique and rare type of forest in the world, so it has been put into conservation and development according to international standards.

This forest is divided into two parts with the natural boundary being the Trem River and the Cai Tau River. The upper part is called U Minh Thuong, the lower part is U Minh Ha. Compared to the past, nowadays, U Minh forest has been destroyed quite a lot, not as rich as in my imagination when reading Son Nam's Huong Rung Ca Mau when I was a student.

In this land, every spring, there is nothing more interesting than going into the forest to see the cajuput flowers. Truong - a local guide - took us to the core of the forest to see the primeval cajuput trees. We waded deep into the forest, the whole group enjoyed watching the rows of cajuput trees rustling, their branches swaying and their leaves rustling. Mixed in the wind was the sound of bees buzzing, searching for flowers and nectar, a pleasant sound to the ears. In the middle of the wild forest scene, the spring breeze was gentle; occasionally, a boat sped through the forest, cutting through the waves towards Ca Mau city. Pointing at the plastic barrels stacked close together on the boat, Truong told me, these are the boats that go to collect honey in the forest.

When talking about U Minh, we cannot help but mention the honey products of Melaleuca forest. Compared to other types of honey, Melaleuca forest honey is ranked first because of its good quality. Melaleuca in U Minh is a type of yellow cotton tree, a tree that produces wood or can be extracted into medicinal essential oil. White cotton tree produces flowers with many sweet flavors, attracting bees to come and build nests in the dense forest. At this time, the whole Melaleuca forest is in full bloom, which is the time when beekeepers rush into the forest to find rare and precious natural honey.

In the Southwest, the profession of keeping bee hives for cajuput forests is almost exclusively found in U Minh. To do this job well, the bee hives worker must be skillful and experienced. According to skilled workers, the bee hives are young, fresh and green cajuput branches. After cutting the branches, the bee hives worker will skillfully find and choose a suitable location to hang the branches on the tree. This cajuput tree must be large, located far from trails, with few people passing by, but must have some shade from the sun. Bees are very difficult, if the cajuput tree is in the shade or too sunny, they will not choose it to build a nest. This also affects the quality of the honey.

Building a beehive seems easy but it turns out to be very laborious. After building the beehive, the worker also has to clean the surrounding branches so that they don't get tangled when collecting honey. To get good honey, the bee must be selected and built before the Melaleuca flower season, about 2 months. According to calculations, the best time to build a beehive is around October and November. At this time, the weather in the West is at the end of the rainy season. Thus, the late rains will wash away the traces, and the beehive will have enough time to dry, like many other dry branches... It is said that the sense of smell of bees is very sensitive, if any beehive has suspicious traces, the bees will stay away immediately. After building the beehive, the worker waits for the bees to come and build a nest. At that time, the owner of the beehive just needs to visit periodically, leisurely sit and wait for the bees to build a nest so that when the season comes, they can collect honey to bring home for use or sell.

In spring in U Minh, the forest suddenly becomes bustling with groups of beekeepers inviting each other to go into the forest to work. The more people go bee hunting, the more interesting and exciting it is. To prepare for the bee hunting season, in addition to a pot of fish, a pot of rice, drinking water, mosquito repellent, and mosquito nets, blankets, pillows, etc., the workers also have to prepare many torches made of dry coconut leaves. Then, they dip the torches in water until they are slightly wet, so that when lit, the torches will emit a lot of smoke, making the bees suffocate and fly away from the hive in fear. At this time, the beekeeper begins to use a sharp knife to pierce the beehive so that the honey flows out through the trough that the whole group has prepared. At that time, the person standing below holds a plastic bucket to catch it, colloquially called a bee bucket. Slowly, a stream of pure, thick honey flows out, until all the honey is gone.

Coming to Ca Mau, if you have a chance to try the honey specialty, you will definitely remember it forever. Here, people use young bees mixed with wild banana flowers, Vietnamese coriander, fried onions, and crushed roasted peanuts to make a salad with sweet and sour fish sauce. The dish may seem strange, but if you can sit on the ground next to the cajuput forest shimmering with sunlight in the peaceful spring scene and sip a small glass of spicy rice wine… it is absolutely wonderful!

More information:

+ U Minh Melaleuca Forest is about 55 km from Ca Mau city center. If you travel by motorbike, follow Highway 63, heading north of Tran Van Thoi district for more than 50 km, you will reach U Minh Forest gate.

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

+ From Ho Chi Minh City to Ca Mau is about 350km. If you go by road, you should take Phuong Trang bus, ticket price from 230,000 - 250,000 VND/person.

+ When traveling to Ca Mau, you should choose the dry season from October to April of the following year.
+ Hotels in Ca Mau only meet 1-3 star standards, prices range from 250,000- 2,000,000 VND.

+ Cuisine: seafood in Ca Mau is very fresh. You can buy honey, dried shrimp, crab roe, three-crab fish sauce, and pickled water lily as gifts for friends.

+ In addition to visiting U Minh cajuput forest, you can visit other interesting places such as Hon Da Bac, Ngoc Hien bird sanctuary, Hon Khoai island...

The Thanh