THE BEE PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Rio Parana owes its ochre color to the quantity of sediment it carries, estimated at 200 million tons per year. The sandbars that regularly form create shallow islands, taken over little by little by aquatic plants, the tangled roots of which hold back the islands’ banks.

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In the peace of the early dawn, the Bracho enters the canal that crosses the delta. The bees are calm under the canvas covers.

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A honeybee at work, its legs full of pollen. Argentina, unlike the rest of Latin America, has preserved a pure stock of Italian bees (Apis mellifera ligustica).

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Everywhere, brand new silos rise up from the cultivated land. Since the beginning of the 1990s, transgenic soy has invaded the Argentine landscape, to the point of representing more than half of all the cultivated lands. Small farmers, no longer finding their place in this setting, take on, at best, insecure jobs as farmhands, or, at worst, are driven from the countryside.

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The evening before leaving for the islands, Carlos goes to get his hives two hours from Victoria, on a field belonging to a childhood friend, a cattle raiser.

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The evening before leaving for the islands, Carlos goes to get his hives two hours from Victoria, on a field belonging to a childhood friend, a cattle raiser.

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In the manner of North American seed manufacturers who have drastically changed the agricultural scene, the heavyweights of the chemical industry have found in Argentina a market fueled by the monoculture of soy.

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The evening before leaving for the islands, Carlos goes to get his hives two hours from Victoria, on a field belonging to a childhood friend, a cattle raiser.

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The fields of transgenic soy stretch as far as the eye can see. A catastrophe for small farmers, the massive spreading of herbicides has decimated their farmyards, ruined their crops and sometimes their health and that of their children.

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Coming back from the migration, Aldao and his son in their old pick-up cross the fields of sunflower and soy stretching as far as the eye can see.

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The hives are inspected for the migration. The strongest colonies will be brought to the islands.

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The fields of transgenic soy stretch as far as the eye can see. A catastrophe for small farmers, the massive spreading of herbicides has decimated their farmyards, ruined their crops and sometimes their health and that of their children.

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A truck loaded with wood passes Carlos trailer full of hives. It’s coming back from the North where the rapid spread of soy crops engenders the destruction of the primal forest.

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Everywhere, brand new silos rise up from the cultivated land. Since the beginning of the 1990s, transgenic soy has invaded the Argentine landscape, to the point of representing more than half of all the cultivated lands. Small farmers, no longer finding their place in this setting, take on, at best, insecure jobs as farmhands, or, at worst, are driven from the countryside.

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A honeycomb with its bees.

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Two bees on a comb with cells full of honey fill their crops with the precious nectar.

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At nightfall, the preparation of the hives for the migration continues.

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The sleepy town of Victoria has come to life since 2002, with the construction of the route linking it to Rosario, the third biggest city in the country. Its brand new casino attracts more and more tourists.

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The shrine dedicated to Fatima on the hill of Victoria overhangs the delta’s landscape.

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A barge of cows awaits departure for the islands in front of the former sugar beet factory, which will soon be transformed into a biofuel manufacturing plant.

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Night has fallen when Carlos’ pickup arrives at the moorage. They still have to unload and then stow the 160 hives, which leave the next day for the alluvial islands.

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Night has fallen when Carlos’ pickup arrives at the moorage. They still have to unload and then stow the 160 hives, which leave the next day for the alluvial islands.

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In the peace of the early dawn, the Bracho enters the canal that crosses the delta. The bees are calm under the canvas cover.

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In the peace of the early dawn, the Bracho enters the canal that crosses the delta. The bees are calm under the canvas cover.

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Pablo, the pilot, is a native of these parts who knows every inch of “his” delta. Carlos, in the background, enjoys a maté, the national drink.

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The immensity of the delta, a 21,000km2 water reservoir, engenders a microclimate with such mild temperatures that a good number of subtropical plants have established themselves.

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The modern hives used in Argentina are made up of two parts: the body, where the queen lays her eggs, is the bees’ habitat, where they raise the brood and stock the honey and pollen that feeds the larvae; and the supers, to which the queen does not have access, which is reserved for the production of the honey. When the super is full, the beekeeper takes it out to harvest the honey and replaces it with another empty one.

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Here and there, the Bracho passes another beekeeper’s barge. They know and greet each other…. Nearly 40 % of the professional beekeepers of the Entre Rios province possess less than 200 hives.

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A bit of respite between two islands… There are still sixty or so hives to install in temperatures of 38°C/ 100°F before finding a bit of shade to take a break.

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The Bracho approaches an island. The banks play an important role in regulating the delta by allowing the vegetation to absorb the excess water from the periodic flooding. Dikes, already widespread in the south, present a major threat to the delta’s future.

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The Bracho approaches an island. The banks play an important role in regulating the delta by allowing the vegetation to absorb the excess water from the periodic flooding. Dikes, already widespread in the south, present a major threat to the delta’s future.

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Under general attack by the swarms, the unloading and setting up of the hives has to be done very quickly. En masse, the bees have left the hives, left open because of the heat.

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The immensity of the delta, a 21,000km2 water reservoir, engenders a microclimate with such mild temperatures that a good number of subtropical plants have established themselves.

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Under general attack by the swarms, the unloading and setting up of the hives has to be done very quickly. En masse, the bees have left the hives, left open because of the heat.

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The Bracho approaches an island. The banks play an important role in regulating the delta by allowing the vegetation to absorb the excess water from the periodic flooding. Dikes, already widespread in the south, present a major threat to the delta’s future.

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Under general attack by the swarms, the unloading and setting up of the hives has to be done very quickly. En masse, the bees have left the hives, left open because of the heat.

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The Bracho approaches an island. The banks play an important role in regulating the delta by allowing the vegetation to absorb the excess water from the periodic flooding. Dikes, already widespread in the south, present a major threat to the delta’s future.

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The knotweed or Polygonum, which the Argentines call catay, is the main melliferous flower of the delta. It is found in abundance on the islands, in its two forms: the white (catay grande) and the pink (catay dulce), both of which can reach two meters in height.

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For navigational reasons, the migration takes place under a merciless sun. Because of the bee’s aggressiveness, the men have to wear their protective suits throughout the transport.

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Here and there, the Bracho passes another beekeeper’s barge. They know and greet each other…. Nearly 40 % of the professional beekeepers of the Entre Rios province possess less than 200 hives.

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Scouting out the delta to find future sites for the apiaries. Faced with the arrival of the livestock, driven to the islands by the spread of soy, the beekeepers have to look farther in the delta for new areas for pollen gathering.

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Since the middle of the 19th century, the delta is a land of honey production. The exuberant richness of its flora guarantees Argentine beekeepers five months of honey flow!

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The abundance of sediment transported by the rios makes the delta advance into the estuary of La Plata, giving it the name of the “living delta”. According to experts, it should reach Buenos Aires around 2500.

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A bee approaching a variety of water hyacinth.

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More than 250 species of birds - herons, kingfishers, snowy egrets, jacanas, spoon bills, etc -have found a paradisiacal refuge in the lagoons.

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A bee approaching a variety of water hyacinth.

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The honey supers are placed on the hives on their return, when the bees have calmed down.

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The honey supers are placed on the hives on their return, when the bees have calmed down.

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As soon as the hives are installed, the scout bees leave on reconnaissance, quickly followed by the foragers to whom the former indicates sources of nectar and pollen. Soon, the whole hive is busy at work, testifying to a prodigious life force.

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All of Carlos’ hives are set up on piles. Despite this precaution, he lost three quarters of his stock, nearly 800 hives, when in 2006 the water rose four meters in a few hours.

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More and more often, the Bracho transports livestock to the islands, where the vegetation is sacrificed to slash-and-burning.

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In the heart of the delta, on a lagoon, the horse remains the only way of getting about. Like many of his colleagues, this gaucho lives year-round on the island, with his wife and children, taking care of Carlos’ horses.

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In order to clear pastureland for the livestock, the gauchos slash and burn the vegetation on the islands. This practice, which has intensified with the spread of soy farming, has dramatic repercussions for the flora and fauna.

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The Parana delta represents an ecosystem practically unique in the world because of its vastness, its particularity (it does not flow into the ocean), the profusion of its flora and fauna… It urgently needs to be preserved.

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The honey from Argentina is the best in the world, or at least that’s what the Argentines say as they export nearly the entirety of their production to Europe, notably Germany, the biggest world importer.

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57 kilometers of route interspersed with bridges crosses the width of the delta, to link Victoria to Rosario, the third biggest city in Argentina. A technical feat, but also the looming threat of human invasion of the delta.