Where to find some of the world’s best wild forest honey, and why it’s under threat

It’s barely 9am and already I’m sweltering. The heat of the day has kicked in, and it’s making our ascent through the thick vines and undergrowth extremely hard going. Two hours into our trek since we left the tiny village of Adu, and fortunately we’ve almost reached our destination: a clump of large trees growing just below a ridge line high in the forest in eastern Sumbawa, the next island to the east of better known Lombok in Indonesia.

I’m accompanied by three villagers: Pak Abidin, and his two younger apprentices Sa’Ban and Ibrahim. Together we’re on the hunt for one of Sumbawa’s most precious exports: wild forest honey, known in Bahasa Indonesia as madu liar.

Ask anyone in the know and they’ll tell you that this rural Indonesian island yields some of the best quality honey in the world, thanks to the existence of the native giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) and its unique flora and fauna. Not only is the taste sublime, it’s also remarkably good for you, possessing antiseptic qualities that mean it can alleviate coughs and sore throats, boost memory and even be used to treat minor wounds and burns.

However, the bees’ habitat could be at risk, unless more is done to ensure all of Sumbawa’s pristine forests are protected from developments such as logging and damaging agricultural practices. Mining is also a threat in this area, with the islanders having protested, and so far halted, the construction of a large gold mine close to nearby Dompu in 2011.

With villagers concerned that the project would destroy their land, threaten forests and drain water supplies, the protests in the regional capital, Bima, turned ugly, with clashes between locals and authorities making the national news.