Le Tour de Kelulut, East Coast Tour

The stingless bees fraternity in Malaysia is rapidly growing as more people are aware of the benefits of the honey and how relatively easy it is to culture them compared to the common honey bees. While it is heartening to know that there is more pure, local honey made available by the increase in bee farmers, it raises the issue of how well-informed they are in ensuring the bees are properly cultured and that there is sustainability in the long term. There are also concerns that trees are logged in large numbers to get the stingless bee colonies by irresponsible, greedy and unscrupulous traders.

With this grave concern in mind, Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil or Pak Abu as he is known to most, had taken the initiative to make  visits to bee farms and even those who rear meliponines on a small scale to share, educate and provide as much knowledge on Good Bee Practices. With a group of enthusiasts comprising mainly participants in the workshops he conducts, Pak Abu started with a roadshow to the Northern region of the peninsula in March this year followed by the Southern region in early May.

Come June, it was the turn of the East Coast region and Bilut Valley Bee Farm was scheduled to be the first stop on this itenerary. We played host to the convoy from the Le Tour de Kelulut, Jelajah Pantai Timur on Saturday 6th of June, 2015 and they were expected to arrive at 9a.m.

We were very fortunate because this tour was joined by Prof. Dr. Hajah Siti Salmah Idrus from University Andalas in Padang, Indonesia. She was accompanied by her husband Dr. Idrus and their grand-daughter Anggi. Prof. Siti Salmah had done extensive research on meliponines and had worked with renowned researchers in a similar field. A sprightly 80-year, she had completed the whole tour which took four days, and in each of the four days, the tour ended late at night.  

Among the objectives of the Road Tours are:

• To meet with meliponiculturists and enthusiasts to discuss current issues.
• To compile current meliponiculture techniques to derive an SOP.
• To compile a list of FAQs.
• To propose a petition for the formation of a Bee Council to set standards of meliponine based products, it's certification and enforcement.
• To provide consultancy services where necessary
• To collect honey sampling for lab tests by representatives of UiTM Puncak Alam and UMT researchers and students.
• To collect honey samples for Ranking of Honey packages based on colour, taste, labels and guided by lab test reults
• To collect specimens to study variation in species especially from the genus Tetragonula.

Pak Abu giving tips and advice on meliponiculture and Good Bee Practices. His love and passion for meliponines is his only reason for doing this. And that says a lot about his commitment towards the conservation of what is to him, a national treasure.
In the background in red cap is Hj Zolkaplie Mustafa, one of the 8000 aborists in the world.

Pak Abu with the COO of BVBF listening intently to what the expert has to say

Pak Abu with a species he named Marziacea sweetinea

A very good experience from the tour, we get to see actual conditions on each others' farms and we are able to discuss a problem and provide a solution if necessary. Seen here are standing, Ariff Amri, sitting right, Hj, Najib and Zaki on the left. Along with a few others under the tutelage of Pak Abu, they share their knowledge and experience so generously. A great show of camaraderie brought about by a mutual love for meliponines.

Our neighbour and fellow meliponiculturist from Raub, Azrul with his father

We served freshly made grilled chicken sandwiches and salad with dressings that contained meliponine honey

From left, Pak Abu, Wak Abdul Aziz, Prof. Siti, Dr. Idrus and Anggi

Ariff Amri owner of Humaira Honey

Nur Raziana and her husband Wan. Nana is an orang asli from the Mah Meri tribe. She is one of the most hardworking, resourceful and proactive woman we've seen. 

This is lovely photo of our garden on the farm by Nana

Aiman showing off the topping he had made using a design suggested by Pak Abu. The joints of the topping are overlapping so they are more secure for the meliponines against predators. When conditions in the topping are conducive, they will quickly work upwards to make honey pots 

Mmm...delicously marinated with honey and grilled by our chef Hadi

Zaki from Meru, Klang 

Hj Najib with his cutie daughter Raisya

From left, Datin Aimi, a partner of BVBF, Aniza and Prof Siti Salmah

 

Wak Abdul Aziz, Pak Abu's right wing man

Fuad without his wife Zurita

Jalur Gemilang on the farm

Pak Abu inspecting the hives. He is probably the only expert in beescape in the country and his greatest concern is that this aspect in meliponiculture is not looked into seriously enough.

Aniza explaining how honey is made, stored and taken from the involucrum or propolis structure in the topping

 

Thank you to Pak Abu and everyone for visiting our farm. Hope to see the rest of you very soon!

The 1st Scientific Kelulut Expedition - a Day We Made History

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team had arrived in Marang from Bilut Valley at around 6pm the previous day. We had requested for chalets by the beach, as all of us just love the sand and the sea. With Terengganu having some of the best beaches in the country, we were not set on coming all the way here and not see the water and feel the sand under our feet.

We didn't have very much time to enjoy the beautiful beach as much as we wanted though; we were there for something very important and very exciting, so leaving wasn't with much reluctance.  We hit the road again just after 7am in the morning, and with the help of Waze and Googlemaps, which could either be our best of friends or the worse enemies, we headed for Rusila. They decided to become the latter that morning. Thankfully we had contacted our host and had gotten accurate and clear instructions and reached our destination without any problems.

On the way in, we saw this beautiful pond which seemed to have crystal clear emerald green waters.What a sight it was.

It wasn't until we were almost at our destination that we finally saw the name of the place on a signboard - Kawasan Perindustrian Bukit Kor (Bukit Kor Industrial Area). We turned off when we saw another signboard which showed "UMT". The road leading into the site was narrow and graveled, and the excitement started to build-up.  
We spotted a shed with a group of people in the distance. As we approached the area, a fleet of 4WD's bearing the UMT insignia was seen lined up with the drivers on standby. We were finally here. This is the place where history will be made. 

A fleet of 4WD complete with drivers to take participants to the starting point on the hill. We were impressed!!

This is where the first ever scientific expedition on meliponines, organised by a team of academicians and researches from the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) in Bukit Kor, Marang, Trengganu was held on the 7th of June, 2015.  This event was part of the Le Tour de Kelulut, Jelajah Pantai Timur programme organised by Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil.

Initiated and headed by Associate Professor Dr. Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak, an extreme enthusiast of both the common honey bees and the stingless bees, the expedition was aimed at discovering and salvaging meliponine colonies, especially rare species in the forest of Bukit Kor. Bukit Kor is the site for UMT's new campus and besides stingless bee colonies, we were also on the look out for valuable herbs and plants that grow in the forest.



Among others who participated in the event were of course, Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil (read about him here), Tuan Hj Musa Yaacob formerly from MARDI, Razif Mamat from Institut Genom Malaysia, Tuan Hj. Zolkaplie Mustafa an aborist whose presence in our group is such a bleesing because his knowledge on the plant kingdom is so crucial.

Then there was Hj. Mohd Najib Rais, another extreme enthusiast and passionate lover of meliponines, meliponiculturists Ariff Amri, Nur Raziana, Zaki, newcomers Fuad and Zurita and a  good-looking research assistant from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Syafizal Omar. 


The team from UMT, besides Prof. Shamsul, comprised Dr. Wahizatul Afzan Azmi, Dr. Mohd Nizam Lani, Dr. Abdulmaula, a Marine Biologist from Libya, and research assistants Roziah Ghazi, Fatin Farhana, Siti Asma' and Muhammad Firdaus.

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team with part of the UMT team. Right smack in the middle is the over-zealous meliponine lover Hj Najib.   

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri - he'd go anywhere he hears has meliponines.

Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil or "Pak Abu" as he is fondly known in the foreground. He is a leading expert in meliponines and a forerunner in conservation efforts of these stingless bees. When he talks about meliponines, he is dead serious. And we mean, dead serious.

The women in the meliponine fraternity - not unlike the industrious meliponine worker bees which are all females.

"Where for art thou my meliponines?"

"Oh there you are!"

Specimens were taken for analysis and research.

A wonderful, huge resak tree where there were three colonies of different species nested at different levels. A Homotrigona sp. at the base, a Heterotrigona itama in the middle and a Tetragonula sp. at the top. It's sad that awesome trees like this have to go for the sake of development, but in this case, for a very good cause.

Dr. Wahizatul - she does research on meliponines as pollinators.

The firecracker in the group, Hj. Najib

Syafizal - didn't we say so?

Siti Asma' - always making sure everything is in order

Husband and wife team Fuad and Zurita with Marzia. We love this picture of them!

The Bilut Valley Bee Farm team yeahh!

An ambulance on stand-by. Thankfully their services was not required but nevertheless it's presence was so reassuring.

The event was covered by major news portals BERNAMA, Berita Harian and Sinar Harian.

The t-shirt given out to participants of the expedition with compliments from UMT. Apparently, Prof Shamsul is making headlines in "social innovation" and receiving well deserving accolades for his efforts. Way to go Prof.!

Although we didn't find any species that we had not seen before, it was still a momentous occasion and definitely a major step towards our efforts in the conservation of meliponines - the Indo-Malayan stingless bees. Congratulations to Prof Shamsul and his team for organising a great event, to Pak Abu Hassan for initiating conservation efforts and instilling love for meliponines and to all the rest for their participation, support and contribution. 

   

Trees and Bees

On the 9th of June 2015, Bilut Valley Bee Farm received very important visitors from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia FRIM). Tuan Sadali Sahat is from the Natural Forest Programme, Forestry and Environment Division of the organisation and is an expert in tropical trees namely those from the dipterocarp family. A number of meliponine species depend on resin from these trees to build their hives, entrances and honey pots. So, Tuan Sadali's extensive knowledge which he so willingly shares is so priceless to us.

Tuan Sadali is second from the right. He simply loves sharing knowledge and information on trees and forests that he gained from 35 years of experience in research work.

 

Although they encounter countless stingless bee colonies in their line of work, they had never seen meliponiculture nor tasted meliponine honey before. So it was our turn to share our knowledge with them with regards to the culturing of stingless bees. Of course like everyone else, Tuan Sadali was amazed at how the meliponines build their honey pots in the toppings that we make for them. We think Tuan Sadali was as pleased as us that he made the visit because it was an eye-opener for him how meliponines are so beneficial and thus precious to us.


We are extremely delighted that Tuan Sadali had taken the time to visit us. We certainly hope Bilut Valley Bee Farm and FRIM can and will work together for the mutual benefit of both parties, as well as for the conservation of meliponines in Malaysia.

A rainbow we saw on our way home from Bilut Valley later that day.

The beautiful skyline at dusk on 9 June 2015.