The Tambuzi Honey Bee Project

12 Sep 2013

Two years ago Tambuzi embarked on a project to bring Langstroth bee hives to the farm, to house the area’s plentiful honey bees. Today the project has grown to 120 busy hives, bringing in approximately 100 kilograms of delicious honey every two months.

The honey project functions as a partnership between Tambuzi Ltd. and African Bee Keepers, Ltd. with whom the honey harvests are shared. Ernest Simeoni, the proprietor at African Bee Keepers, visits Tambuzi’s hives approximately every two months, ensuring that the colonies are healthy and also to facilitate the honey harvests after each rainy season.

One might ask if a commercial flower farm, where selected pesticides are used, is a good environment for honey bees.

“Flower farming is actually very compatible with bees,” assures Tim Hobbs, Tambuzi’s Managing Director, “because of the nature of flower harvesting, the head, or flower, of the plant is cut before insects have a chance to access the pollen, and thus the pesticides used to protect them.”

What then do Tambuzi’s bees use as the main ingredient for their honey? The answer is Lavender. Tambuzi currently grows two varieties of flowering plants for bouquet ‘fillers’, Lavender being the primary one. The bees pollinate these flowers, and result is a delicately flavoured and very pure Lavender honey.

Have a look at this link for some interesting facts on Kenya’s bees.

Tambuzi harvests its honey and sells it commercially. Our honey is available to all, and for more information please contact us from the information provided in our website.