Mauli Dhan, 57, a Kulung from eastern Nepal said to be the last honey-hunter in the country, dangles on a 150-meter-high (500ft) bamboo rope ladder to harvest extremely rare honey from thousands of Himalayan giant honeybees. To disorient the bees and avoid stings, he used smoldering grass to create smoke when cutting away the large hive. /VCG Photo 

Known as mad honey, the sticky and reddish fluid can be sold on Asian black markets for $60 to $80 a pound, six times higher than the regular Nepali honey price. For Mauli, honey hunting is the only way to earn money and buy salt and cooking oil. But he says it might be his last year for doing this as he feels tired. /VCG Photo

The Himalayan honeybee, one of the largest bees in the world, makes different types of honey depending on the season and the nectar consumed. The Kulung people have used the honey as cough syrup and antiseptic for centuries. /VCG Photo

The Kulung live in the dense jungle near the Honghu River and have remained separate from the outside world for over a century. Renan Ozturk, a professional photographer from Park City in the US state of Utah, traveled to the village and took photos of the hunting process, which takes many hours. /VCG Photo