THIRUNELLY: They walk 15 to 20 kilometres through terrain that most people would not attempt in daylight — past elephants, bears and pythons, through a landscape of sheer rock faces and dense canopy where rare birds nest and the air stays cold even in summer.
Their destination is Pakshipathalam, a dramatic outcrop of boulders and caves in the Brahmagiri hills of Wayanad, 1,740 metres above sea level. They are going to collect honey, an extraordinary thick, intensely flavoured one, yielding barely 150 kilograms in a good year but carrying every drop of the biodiversity of the place it comes from.
The men who make this journey belong to the Kattunaikkar tribal community, from a settlement called Aakkolly. Only those from Aakkolly dare to trek Pakshipathalam for honey harvest each season.
“We go six or seven times a season,” Suresh, 30, of Aakkolly says.
“During the day, we walk the forest and locate the hives — large combs hanging from sheer rock faces in the crevices at Pakshipathalam. The harvest is at night as bees are calmer after dark. Fewer stings.”
The actual extraction requires one man to descend on a rope from the top of the rock face, detaching the comb by hand in the dark, dozens of feet above the forest floor. Recently, Suresh says, a tiger charged at the group on the trail. They drove it back with torchlight and noise.
Suresh has his own theory about what gives Pakshipathalam honey its distinctive taste — the blossoms of a particular tree named Murulu, abundant in the area. Even in peak summer, the microclimate at Pakshipathalam stays cool, allowing an unusual variety of flowering plants to thrive year-round.
The low moisture at that altitude makes the honey denser and thicker than those collected at lower elevations. It yields barely 100 to 150 kg a year. This season, 100 kilograms have already come in, and the harvest is not over yet.
The Thirunelly Tribal Cooperative Society procures and sells forest produce from the Brahmagiri ranges and the Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary. Its secretary, Sunoj, doubles as the society’s professional honey taster, sampling every batch that arrives, much like a tea taster at a factory. Of everything they collect, he says, the finest comes from Brahmagiri, especially Pakshipathalam. Sunoj and staffer Jithin do all the work, from procurement to purification, packaging and sales.
The society had a difficult 2025. Heavy pre-monsoon showers drove overall yield down considerably. When rain arrives too early and too hard, the bees consume their own honey stores to survive, leaving little for harvest. This year, the showers came late, allowing more flowers to bloom and more honey to accumulate.
“Intermittent, gentle rain... that’s what you want,” Sunoj says.
In 2024, the society collected 12 tonnes of ‘van then’ (collected from tall trees and cliffs) and 7.71 tonnes of ‘puttu then’ (from tree bark cavities, anthills). Last year, those figures collapsed to 3.85 tonnes and 4.19 tonnes respectively. This season, with harvesting still ongoing, the society has already procured 10 tonnes of ‘van then’, 5 tonnes of ‘puttu then’ and 400 kilograms of ‘cheruthen’.
The honey is sold at the society’s outlet at Appapara, on the road to Thirunelly temple, alongside other forest produce. Tourists visiting Wayanad are among its buyers. Those who find it tend not to forget it.