Art Week: Day 2

Original Post: Honey Hunters of the Nilgiri Hills
Date: October 11, 2009 at 10:37 AM

 

Several tribal groups in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu harvest the honey produced by Apis dorsata, the Giant Rock Bee. The bee makes its hives under overhanging rocks in virtually inaccessible sites, and climbing up to collect the honey is truly an amazing acrobatic feat.  Click here for a marvelous video of this activity. 

The Kurumba people make simple but wonderfully detailed paintings about honey hunting. The two pieces shown here were done by Balasubramani and Krishna of the Ajile Bottu painting collective. 

Biodiversity Festival

One of the things that I did on this trip to South India was to judge all the exhibits in the Biodiversity Festival organized by the Keystone Foundation and select a winner and a runner-up.  The exhibit shown in this image was about the conservation and management of black dammar (Canarium strictum), an important local resin used for incense. 

After 7 hours of judging (really), a winner was finally chosen.  And what better way to celebrate this decision than with singing, dancing, drums, and a bonfire. [NOTE: Music was provided by the group Vayali, from the neighboring state of Kerala].

Road to Banglapadigai

We encountered a bit of roadwork on our trip to Banglapadigai in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (see Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve).  The workers were actually very attentive at getting things cleaned up so that we could pass. [NOTE: There is a (several) hundred foot drop immediately off the right side of the road here]. 

Honey Hunters of the Nilgiri Hills

Several tribal groups in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu harvest the honey produced by Apis dorsata, the Giant Rock Bee. The bee makes its hives under overhanging rocks in virtually inaccessible sites, and climbing up to collect the honey is truly an amazing acrobatic feat.  Click here for a marvelous video of this activity. 

The Kurumba people make simple but wonderfully detailed paintings about honey hunting. The two pieces shown here were done by Balasubramani and Krishna of the Ajile Bottu painting collective. 

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is a 5,500 square kilometer protected area in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka in southern India. Established in 1986, Nilgiri is the oldest Biosphere Reserve in India.  The reserve contains over 100 species of mammals (including tigers, Asian elephants, and the Nilgiri Tahr), 3300 species of flowering plants, and 10 indigenous tribal groups. The reserve is under consideration for designation as a World Heritage Site because of its unique biodiversity.  This is an amazing place.