The real Ratel
The Ratel who leaves notes all over this website is based on a real one. Ratel is the Afrikaans name for the honey badger.
We’ve seen them once
Only once, a long time ago: two honey badgers, one night, as we were coming home. Mostly we know they’re around because of what they leave behind.
What they do to a hive
Honey badgers are after the bee brood as much as the honey, and they’re strong enough to pull a hive apart. For years we hardly had any trouble. Then this season one came back and destroyed around 40 hives, whole apiary sites at a time.
Half of that is on us
A lot of our hives were old and weathered, and easy to get into. We’re replacing them with new ones. All our hives are on stands and strapped down, and we’ve had to move hives away from some sites altogether, because every hive we put there got destroyed.
So we gave him a pen
On this website he gets the last word, mostly about what he’s stolen. He doesn’t drink. He’s only ever been after the honey.
The Ratel: that’s my good side.
