Episode 2 - Honey (English Language Version)

In Episode 2: Honey, we explore the Mau Forest in the Rift Valley, Kenya, where the population of honeybees have declined in recent decades due to deforestation, forest encroachment and logging. Bees are central to the identity of the Ogiek, an indigenous community that calls the Mau Forest home despite decades of continuous experiences of eviction in the name of conservation. The bees buzzing sounds from the high-swinging hives of Mau Forest are a voice in the community’s story. For the Ogiek, honey is food, it is medicine, it is front and centre in both celebration and healing. Since time immemorial, the Ogiek have cared for the Mau forest, living symbiotically with the bees, indigenous flowers and trees. In Honey, LBE member Daniel Kobei and bee keepers of the Ogiek community reflect on this special connection, detailing how bees transition between physical and spiritual territories of the Ogiek.

Each episode of storytelling is paired with another side of the same story – a B-side like classic recording, where the landscape speaks for itself. The B-side of Honey features the Mau Forest at dawn, with the wind blowing through leaves and hyraxes scurrying through the trees. If you listen deeply, they too are telling the Ogiek story.

Land Body Ecologies is produced by Invisible Flock and this episode is made with the Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program.