Yunnan Honey Hunters Scale Cliffs For Liquid Gold _ Gathering wild "cliff honey" is not for the faint of heart. To get it, "honey hunters" suspend from rope ladders to face swarms of bees emerging from their cliffside hives. They are stung again and again. To reduce the risk of confrontation, hunters suit up in protective gear and use smoke to scatter the giant honey bees from their hives. An adult “Apis Dorsata,” of which the dark giant bee and giant bee belong, are from the world’s largest honey bee species, and can measure almost 3 centimeters in size. Harvesting their honey has long been a cultural tradition and economic staple for the Lisu people, an ethnic group in the southwest mountainous areas of Yunnan province along China's border with Myanmar. The Lisu, who are known to move skillfully through the mountains, never take honey from all of the hives in one area, leaving enough for the bees to ensure they will return the following season. But there are fewer and fewer honey hun...