Baka chronicle, April 2015, Messok district, Cameroon : a collect of wild honey

Camera, sound, editing : Romain Duda Film editing assistance : Alain Epelboin (CNRS-MNHN) Messok district, East Cameroon, april 2015 The honey harvesting is one of the highly valued activities for the Baka of southeastern Cameroon. Among a dozen of variety of wild honey, the one called pòki, produced by the bee tòngyà (Apis mellifera) is particularly appreciated but implies reaching a nest located, most of the time, several meters high in the tree. This film details the techniques employed in a domain of ecological knowledge locally developed by the Baka. The swarm is located and identified thanks to the humming specific to each species (Apis mellifera, stingless bees meliponines). At the foot of the tree, embers are first produced to feed a bee smoker (yànji) made out of a bundle of sticks stuffed into leaves. A single