The Sanctuary has been working closely with the adjacent communities more so in poverty alleviation by establishing projects that are beneficial to the communities but at the same time environmentally friendly. Currently a women group from Kibera, Ngando and Mutoini Slums has installed 200 hives in beekeeping enterprise.
On Sunday we hosted guests from honey care Africa, the aim of their visit was to see the whole process of modern beehive inspection and honey harvesting. They arrived at 10:00 am and found the rangers waiting for them with two of the community women who are involved in the bee keeping enterprise.
on the way to the apiaries
After a brief welcome and introductions they put on protective clothing and we headed to the apiaries. We learnt that the beehives are hanged on trees in order to trap bees easily and when constructing a beehive, a foundation layer of wax is put on the frames to attract bees and at the same time give them a foundation on which to build their honey combs. We examined each hive thoroughly noting down the progress of each.
putting on protective clothes
Fully dressed
We noted that one of the hives was occupied scout bees. The scout bees’ work is to asses the suitability of the habitat before the whole colony can move in. To most people the scout bee looks like other active bees but once you get a closer look, you are able to notice small differences in their behavior. Scout bees are not as aggressive as other active bees since their work is not to protect the hive. We also learnt from Mr. Jeff a hive specialist that the scout bee assesses an area for three days before deciding to move in or move on.
examining the hives
using bee smokers
a hive with scout bees
The guests were very impressed with the progress of the bee keeping project and encouraged the women to keep up with the good work they were doing.
office@ngongforestsanctuary.com
