The Stings That See Elephants Fly

Mmabatho Morudi , right, teaches bee keepers to look for honey on a bee hive barrier built on the outskirts of Gazini, a village on the border of South Africa and Mozambique, on 17 November 2016. Morudi is building 200 bee hive fences that run 2 kilometres along the border of Gazini to deter rouge elephants from destroying crops and to create local jobs for 11 villagers. Morudi then sells the honey in Johannesburg as organically harvested product.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

Work starts before dawn, in their bee suits the team walk with the hives on their heads before the bees get aggressive, on 17 November 2016. Morudi based her bee hive business on research by Dr Lucy King, Head of the Human-Elephant Co-Existence Program for Save the Elephants, who realised that African elephants are scared of the noise of African honey bees and will avoid beehives at all costs in the wild. The bees sting the elephants' soft skin; their eyes; face; trunk and mouth.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

Since October, Morudi has built 40 hives. It took time to convince the villagers that building hives would work to deter elephants, on 17 November 2016. The beehive fences have proven to be so successful preventing Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) that 13 countries have adopted similar projects, one of them being the Morudi's growing business, The Village Market.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

The hives are built in the closest town with electricity which is Manguzi and a 40 minute drive on sand, on 16 November 2016. The bee keepers take the hives to their homes in Gazini and attempt to colonize them. The fences have an 80% success rate and are cheap, costing between $150 to $500 per 100 meters.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

The hives hang on wooden poles, 10 meters apart and linked by barbed wire, on 17 November 2016. If touched by an elephant the hives swing and stir up the bees. Bees are fussy dwellers. They need a sources of water; plenty of flowering plants; protective vegetation and to be out of direct sunlight. This is why the hives that stand in the sunlight have their own shade spots, built by the bee keepers.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

Morudi believes that deforestation, pesticides and insecticides also affect the bees. They make every effort to avoid disturbing the natural vegatation; it means often taking the long route to build the fence, on 17 November 2016. Morudi plants strong smelling plants and herbs like onions and spring onions to discourage pests and plant flowering vegetables like tomatoes to encourage pollination The Gazini project caught the eyes of the African Union which gave them a $15,000 grant to provided research around bee diseases, cross pollination and bee population.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

The hives are still young and need to be carefully monitored by Morudi, on 17 November 2017 Mmabatho found waxworm in one of the hives. These pests eat cocoons, pollen, the shed skins of bees, and chew through beeswax. Threats that attacks bees in the hive and contributes in part to colony collapse, are global concerns. This is why the couple have teamed up with the University of Pretoria Zoology and Entomology department’s Bee Group that will add valuable research to elephant behaviour, bee repopulation and disease control.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

The Gazini Bee Keepers use the dried leaves of palm trees as fuel in their bee smokers, on 17 November 2016. They believe it is a more effective fuel than traditional fuels like hessian, burlap and wood.

The Stings That See Elephants Fly

The day's work ends in prayer, in the shade and out of the heat. By January 2017, with the 40 active hives, the 11 Gazini bee keepers will yield R49,000 from their first harvest. In 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, were lost over six years. Both Europe and US passed regulations to restrict the use of pesticides and fungicides and in 2013, the bee population bounced back. Commercial honey-producing bee colonies managed by human beekeepers is now the highest it's been in 20 years, reported the Washington Post in 2015.