Today's Edition
RAJEEV CHERIAN (HATTA)
A hive of activity is underway at Hatta Honeybee Garden and Discovery Centre. Wearing bee suits, visitors embark on a journey, gaining first-hand insights into the industrious life of bees, sustainable beekeeping and its growing spread across the UAE amid the backdrop of the Hajjar Mountains.
Located some 270 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi, Hatta Honeybee Garden and Discovery Centre offers fascinating facets of honeybees with a touch of adventure.
The 16,000-square-metre sanctuary was established under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi in 2018, and it's the first of its kind in the Middle East region.
The tour begins with a short video on the making of honey in Hatta's environment. The journey then continues outdoors to the apiary, where visitors follow a guided path with stops explaining the sources of the nectar, mainly from wildflowers, Ghaf, Samar, mangrove and Sidr trees, each source offering its own distinctive properties.
Honeybees live and store their honey in hives. Once collected by honeybees, the nectar is broken down into simple sugars stored in the honeycomb inside the hive.
The design of the honeycomb and constant fanning of the bees' wings cause evaporation, creating sweet liquid honey.
At the apiary, before opening the hive box, the beekeeper puffs smoke into the hive using a smoker device. The smoke helps bees calm during hive inspections. When bees sense danger, they prepare for attack, defending the hive, but the smoke masks their alarm signals.
Inside the Hive
Each hive can be home to 30,000 to 60,000 bees. The hive is comprised of one queen, hundreds of drones and thousands of worker bees.
The queen is the largest bee in the hive and can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day during the peak breeding season. She lives for two to five years and mates only once in her lifetime.
Worker bees are the smallest and most numerous. They collect nectar and pollen, and care for young bees, among many other tasks that keep the colony running.
They often change roles throughout their life: starting as nurse bees and later becoming foragers. Their lifespan is about six weeks during the summer months and can survive for several months during winter.
Drones are male bees. They do not have stingers and cannot defend the hive. Their sole purpose is to mate with the queen bee. Their lifespan is usually between 50 and 75 days.
A hive produces around 55 pounds of surplus honey each year. Beekeepers harvest it by collecting the honeycomb frames and scraping off the wax caps that bees make to seal each cell. The frames are then placed in an extractor, which spins out the honey. After that, the honey is strained, bottled and labelled.
Bees' role extends beyond producing honey. They pollinate plants throughout the growing season, playing an essential role in the ecosystem.
Once back from the tour, visitors are offered a honey tasting session, featuring the varieties of honey produced at the centre, concluding the tour with the sweetness of honey, the fruit of the labour of these magnificent creatures.
