# @gettyimages on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/ByamYrQgyU8
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16447771-gettyimages-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/5e0f57c554.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-06-07T16:41:37.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Getty Images (@GettyImages) — https://gondola.cc/GettyImages

## Caption

Yunnan Honey Hunters Scale Cliffs For Liquid Gold
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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 hunters still practicing the dangerous and exhausting pursuit of collecting honey from these isolated cliffside hives. The tradition is also not immune to environmental change. Some honey hunters claim they are finding fewer hives than in the past because bee populations are impacted by heavy pesticide use among local farmers and global warming.  Cliff honey, deemed "liquid gold", is considered purer and healthier than regular honey and is coveted by many in China, where it typically sells for upwards of $50 U.S. per kilogram. A single hive can have many kilograms inside. | May 10 - 31, 2019 | 📷: kevinfrayer | #GettyImagesNews
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#honeybee #himalayanhoneybee #honey #honeyharvest #china #lisu #honeyhunter #beehoney #wildhoney #cliffhoney #beehive #cliffsidehive #cliff #harvest #yunnan #yunnanprovince

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 7,178
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- **Comments:** 56

## Tags

himalayanhoneybee, lisu, yunnan, honeybee, honey, wildhoney, cliffhoney, beehive, beehoney, honeyharvest, cliffsidehive, china, harvest, cliff, yunnanprovince, gettyimagesnews, honeyhunter

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