Getting to know the bees in the Izki natural park

Discover the world of bees

In the village of Apellániz, located in the Alavesa Mountains, we will visit the apiary, located in the largest oak forest Quercus pyrenaica in Europe, along with beech, linden, chestnut, lavender, thyme and heather.

In a magical, novel, unique and unrepeatable experience, in which we will perform the tasks of a beekeeper in his day to day. We will see how bees make honey, collect pollen along with wax and propolis. We will learn to care for and respect our environment and its inhabitants.

The singular point of this experience with respect to others is to observe a living being, an insect: the bee, whose structuring of the hive is a perfect example of teamwork, organization of space and distribution of tasks, where the common good prevails above all. To be able to enjoy a bee colony whose simple allusion awakens in humans and especially in children a somewhat magical and mysterious fascination. To be able to see firsthand the inside of the hive in which there are three castes: the queen, the workers and the drones. The queen, mother of all the members of the hive, lays about a thousand eggs a day. She can live up to five years feeding exclusively on royal jelly. To be able to catch some drones, destined exclusively to procreation and that in autumn when the food begins to be scarce are pierced by the stings of the workers. To feel the workers, the most numerous of the hive, being able to reach 90,000 in summer. They live about 45 days in summer and about six months in autumn and winter. They are in charge of caring for and feeding the brood, building honeycombs, carrying pollen, water and nectar. They also clean and protect the hive. Participating for a few moments in the hive management plan, which consists of individualized monitoring of each hive throughout the year in order to attend specifically to the needs that arise. It can be summarized in a first spring period in which the hives are placed as they are required. During the summer, swarming is controlled. At the end of the summer period, the honey supers are removed. With an autumn revision in which their reserves are checked, the beekeeping year is concluded. All this is shown from the deep respect for nature and the environment that we must transmit to the new generations.

The world of bees revolves around the weather, the climate. Bees live depending on the sun, the rain, the temperature, the wind, and so while sunny and warm days are favorable for their visit, cold, windy and rainy days are not advisable. Therefore, the experiences will be organized depending on the weather. In rainy and/or cold weather the visit to the apiary in the natural park can be made, but it is impossible to access the inside of the hive because in these circumstances the bees are very aggressive and it can be painful to do so.

This experience gives the visitor the option to participate from the very first moment. As soon as you arrive in Apellániz and find yourself immersed in a place where its buildings evoke other times, the traveler's curiosity will be aroused. Likewise, the natural environment that surrounds this enclave with its majestic beech forests and enigmatic chestnut groves will provoke in the visitor the need to ask about its origins and singularities. On the other hand, the talk in which the experience is contextualized gives rise to multiple questions about the world of bees on which the essence of the experience revolves. The transfer to the apiary in which we will cross the interior of one of the most beautiful natural parks of the Basque Country and whose transit is restricted to road traffic will be another of the key moments of questions. The visit to the apiary, for most of the participants will be a new, unique, unrepeatable experience and why not, in a way, disturbing to be surrounded by millions of bees. The look inside a beehive where we will discover the ins and outs, curiosities and mysteries of the life of the bee will probably offer the most participatory moments of the experience and will create a memory difficult to forget. The subsequent return will give much to talk about exchanging sensations and emotions. We therefore understand that any moment of the day should be conducive to the participation of the visitor, as we must not forget that it is the visitor, the traveler, and his or her enjoyment, after all, the fundamental axis on which our work and our participation in this initiative revolves. It is therefore their participation that is fundamental, as it will determine whether this experience will be positive, rewarding and long-lasting.
We understand that the essence of this experience is the world of sensations, seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and thanks to them the traveler will fix the concepts that from the first moment the guides will try to transmit throughout the morning.

In principle, this experience is focused on the traveler observing the natural world, the world of bees. This means that the places where we will find ourselves will lack human presence, which is on the other hand one of the attractions of the visit. As the village of Apellániz is small, the presence of neighbors is scarce. The guides of the experience as natives of the region will be in principle the representatives of this local population. At lunchtime visitors will be able to interact with the locals. Although, as we have already mentioned, the traveler looking for this type of experience will see the relative solitude of the place as an incentive.