Bees are perfectly predictable. They are most active in the heat of the day and quiet at night; they like flowering trees such as silk cottons, baobabs and cashews; the females do all the work; and a colony will do anything to protect its queen.
Yet, bees can be unpredictable too. And as unpredictably as our bees came, they left. A massive storm knocked our first hive to the ground, causing the colony to abscond a few days later. Over the next few months, we tended to two more colonies that would eventually leave for reasons we would never discover.
