Mongolian bees

(Photo: Father and Nadmit)
It's Wednesday and west of Mongolia's capital lies the Khustain National Park. Eighty four wild Preswalskii horses were released here in the 1990s and over 250 roam free here today. These horses originate from Mongolia but became extinct. They differ from the domestic horse only by an extra couple of chromosomes. Impressive stag deer roam free and stop to watch us pass. It is a wonderful sight to see these animals free and healthy, and this is what the national park is here for.

Nadmit is the vet and biologist at the park. Ten years ago the park started keeping honey bees. I was surprised to hear of bees living in such a cold climate (did I mention it's cold here...?) and wanted to find out more.

Spring and summer see the hills and valleys covered in blossom and forage is plentiful between late May and mid October. In a good year one hundred kilos of honey is collected and sold to buyers in the capital city. In a bad year nothing is collected. There are 10 hives at the moment (the other 20 were destroyed in a forest fire), and an annual average of 10 kilos of honey per hive is not much by English standards.

Or perhaps he meant 100 kilos per hive ... ? Now, that would be impressive.

Honey sells for $30 per kilo here compared with $15 per kilo back in the UK.

'In spring I like eating the white grubs' Nadmit smiled as he motioned picking them out of the wax brood comb.

I asked Nadmit about honeybee diseases. There is so much talk about the loss of bees back home and in the US, but Nadmit hadn't heard of it 'I suppose there are some,' he said 'but I don't know them'.

These are Russian bees, the name they called them sounded like "Carrputt". It's not one I'm familiar with and I didn't get a chance to see them in the flesh. The hives are kept in the hillside during the winter; a shelter dug into the hill with an insulated entrance door. It is too cold to open the shelter up. Outside, in front of the door, empty boxes and hive bits are scattered haphazardly waiting for the warm weather to return.

The park only sells honey from the bees, but no other products. No wax; no mead. It seems to me they are missing a trick here.