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The bees and the haystack man
There's an ancient accomplice in the hunt for honey, unreal: he
is so small he is almost invisible, but they call him gba-sarà
or "he who calls loudly". It's a small bird, an African
woodpecker better known to ornithologists as Indicator indicator,
a black-throated indicator. He loves honey and bee larvae, but he
could never open a beehive by himself. He needs the help of strong
brave honey hunters. The small bird has an ally in another animal
who is crazy about the sweet liquid: man. The hunting agreement
was signed in the Adamewa highlands, a land of forests and savannahs
in the heart of Cameroon. The men are gbaya, keepers of the
last tropical forests. The little bird will sing to attract the
hunters when he perceives them moving through the forest (in February,
at the end of the dry season when the beehives are brimming with
honey). He will cry out anxiously
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