Attracted by Yemen’s honey crop, the equivalent of the value of caviar here in Europe, Thierry and Camille Sergent, beekeepers and French botanists discover this piece of land. In their passion for Socotra a honey project is born: to develop rational beekeeping.
With seed money from the French embassy in Yemen, the couple have made many trips to Socotra to train the men and women of the Bedouin tribes living there.
They brought 200 beehives and protective clothing, and taught 15 men how to use them.
What shocked them was the way the honey was collected and the destruction of the ecosystem that produced the island's only source of cash income.
"There is no sustainable apiculture here," said Camille. "The inhabitants scramble up the granite cliffs with bare feet and hands, sometimes risking their lives, to collect this wild honey which they sell for 15 euros a kilo only to be resold for 150 in the emirates," said Camille.
