Eric Valli : Honey Hunters

This is a photographic series entitled 'Honey Hunters of Nepal' taken by Eric Valli.

"High in the Himalayan foothills, fearless Gurung men risk their lives to harvest the massive nests of the world's largest honeybee."

 This series is accompanied by a film entitled 'Honey Hunters of Nepal' which covers the same thing and was shot with Diane Summers. Twice a year Gurung tribesmen of West-Central Nepal enter the jungle to search for wild honey from the worlds largest honey bee, the 'Apis Laboriosa'. They have been doing this for about 12000 years.

I find that Valli has included this timeless feel of the tradition through the inclusion of the rifle and the mens military medals. The rifle appears to have been handed down, generation to generation, along with the traditional methods it is hard placed to put a definite date on when these images were taken.  Overall i think Valli has managed to capture the timeless quality that this tradition and the methods it uses very well.

Sources Used:
http://www.ericvalli.com/index.php?/stories/honey-hunters/
All imagery from above website.
Further Reading:
Honey Hunters of Nepal - Eric Valli, Diane Summers (1998)
Eric Valli