The story begins with Bakari telling his son Juma that the honey-guide bird is calling for him and he will follow him to bring home a treat. Juma opts to follow his father and his father accepts, promising to teach him how to get honey. Both father and son then follow the singing bird out of the village into the forest and walk past a number of different kinds of wildlife: giraffes, ostriches, zebras and a family of warthogs. Finally, they come to a group of yellow acacia trees beside a waterhole where the honey-guide settles and stops singing. Bakari draws his son’s attention to the bird’s quietness and makes him understand that, “By being quiet, he tells us that we are very close to the bee’s nest. And look! There it is, right in that tree!”

Bakari then gathers dry twigs and made a small fire at the foot of the tree. He sprinkles some water on it so that the smoke can drift up into the nest for the bees to fly away. Bakari pokes the empty nest with his stick, catches the honey comb and asks Juma to taste. After Juma tasted, Bakari breaks off a chunk and asks him to climb up the tree and leaves the piece for the kidege. Puzzled, Juma hesitates to do as instructed and demands an explanation only to learn that: “That is how we say asante (thank you) to the kidege (the little bird)” (p. 13). But Juma still does not want to give up the honeycomb and poses further questions until he is told that if he does not, the bird might lead him to a lion’s den instead of a bee nest. Juma hurriedly climbs the tree and leaves a honey comb for the bird. He finally understands that the ritual and tradition to always keep part of the honeycomb for the honey-guide bird in gratitude must be observed. 

Since ancient times, humans have been known to communicate with other elements of nature, particularly animals and birds, when there is a situation of friendship. The above story is based on a true and unusual relationship that the honey guide, a real bird in East Africa, created with the Dorobo* people of Kenya. This bird likes eating honey but cannot break into a hive. So it surveys hives that are ready to be harvested and conducts men there, who then harvest and give the bird a share of the honey. Because of the help the bird gives in finding a ready beehive, it has almost become a sacred bird among the people. That is why they reserve a honeycomb for it whenever they harvest. As noted in the story, the honey harvest, and the tradition of reserving some honey for the bird-guide are handed down from generation to generation, as seen in the relationship between Bakari and his son Juma. Bakari understands the language of the honey guide bird and teaches Juma how to behave. The story about the bird leading Juma to a lion’s den is a way to frighten Juma into submitting to the tradition. This is one of the ways through which traditions were maintained in Africa – creating fear in the younger generation of some impending doom if what is demanded is not observed. That notwithstanding, it was also a way of guaranteeing a symbiotic relationship, and ensuring continuity maintaining the cycle of life with other elements of nature. As mentioned above, this is an age-long practice as seen on the illustrations in the book which suggest pre-colonial Africa.

* The Dorobo are a diverse group of hunter-gatherer people comprising the Okiek, Mukogodo, Mosiro, Kinsakasa amongst others. The name Dorobo originates from "ll-torrobo", a Maasai term for "the ones with cattle". Where hunting is banned, they make their living through beekeeping. Source: prayafrica.org (accessed: July 30, 2021).

The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life, ed. Lindsay Campbell, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Spottiswoode, Claire, Keith S. Begg and Colleen M. Begg, “Reciprocal signaling in honeyguide-human mutualism”, Science 353 (2016): 387–389; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf4885 (accessed: July 30, 2021).

Origin: East Africa (Kenya/Tanzania)