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Hunting Yarsagumba, And Hunting Honey In Wild
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 25, 2013: the season is hunting for yarsagumba, and wild honey in Nepal.
In eastern and western Nepal, Nepalis have started going up in the mountains with tents and provisions for weeks for hunting collecting yarsagumba. Schools are closed as students are off with their parents for collecting yarsagumba. This year, the off-season heavy rains have prevented some of the yarsagumba hunters from collecting it, and even sent them home because of the snow and rains.
Yarsagmba is heavily sought in Japan and China. It fetches high prices at the local market as well as at the international market, too. Nepalis themselves either could not afford it or are not interested in it.
Yarsagumba is a caterpillar caught in a plant. It is a stimulant to sex. It is something like a natural Viagra. It has not gone to the western countries, yet but it has been famous among the Chinese and Japanese. It is usually served in a soup.
The high price of yarsagumba has been the main attraction for the Nepalis to hunt it even putting their lives at risk. Recently, The management of the reserved areas has imposed high fees on each of the yarsagumba collectors. Yarsagumba collectors have to pay Rs 1,000 to 3,000 each to enter the reserved areas for hunting yarsagumba.
Some of the collectors have complained that the climate change has effect on yarsagumba, too. They did not find yarsagumba as much as used to be.
In the mid western Nepal, honey hunters are preparing to go to the wild for hunting honey. They have allocated the areas for hunting honey to the people living in different villages. They could even give the area to others at a price. Thus, they have settled the issue of collecting honey in the wild, according to the news in ‘gorkhapatra’ of today.
Collecting honey in the wild is a risky job. Collectors sometimes lose their lives. So, they perform religious rituals to the deity of forest before setting off for collecting honey. They make strong ropes from the forest plants. Honey collectors climb down by the ropes to the honeycombs while some of the colleagues make fire on the ground to create smoke to drive away the bees.
Collectors keep some of the honey for their consumption, and the rest they sell at the local market. A liter of wild honey fetches Rs 1,000 even at the local market, according to the news in ‘gorkhapatra’ of today.
