Tiwai Island sits in the Moa River in the West African country of Sierra Leone. The island is a wildlife sanctuary, and it is covered in ancient rainforest. It is part of the Upper Guinea rainforest. Pygmy hippos, smaller cousins of the common hippopotamus, live in the Moa River. Tiwai Island is also an important home for chimpanzees and many other species of plants and animals.
In 2022, Aruna Bangura observed changes to the environment and land use around his community. Aruna is from the Boma community next to the Tiwai Island wildlife sanctuary. Aruna decided he needed to take action. “I observed that the bee population was declining, and starting a beekeeping initiative was the only alternative in sight,” explains Aruna.
The bees in this area face many problems. Deforestation removes trees that the bees need for their nests. Pesticides used on crops kill bees. Extreme weather causes crop failures, which means people cut down more trees to expand fields, meaning less habitat for bees.
Beekeeping is an important part of the local economy where Aruna and his community live. They depend on the native Western African honey bee (Apis mellifera adansonii), a sometimes aggressive bee. Farmers sell the honey they get from keeping their beehives.
Traditional beekeeping in Sierra Leone uses hollow logs to build natural beehives. The honeycombs the bees create are fixed in place within the hive. The downside of traditional beekeeping is that it can produce relatively little honey for the farmer to sell.
Aruna Bangura founded an organization called Bangs Circular. The group’s purpose is to improve beekeeping practices in eight communities around the Tiwai Island wildlife sanctuary.
Bangs Circular started the Tiwai Honey Project to build modern hand-made beehives with removable honeycombs. These modern hives are good for several reasons. They hold more bees than traditional log hives. That means more honey. A study from Tanzania found that modern beehives can produce four times as much honey (20 kilograms/44 pounds) per hive as traditional hives do.
The honey in the modern hives can be easily harvested. Beekeepers can also check in on the bees to watch their behavior and make sure they are not getting sick or getting ready to fly away.
The Tiwai Honey Project started with less than 20 beehives in eight Indigenous Mende communities around Tiwai Island. The project has so far built over 300 beehives. Each beehive can house up to 60,000 bees, including the queen, drones (males), and worker bees.