Thousands of visitors have flocked to the 11th Honey Festival currently being held in Al-Baha region in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Press Agency released photos showing a tour of the festival with its distinguished activities and events. There are more than 30 booths at the exhibition where beekeepers displayed their products.

Speaking to SPA, Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Umari has said there are different types of honey such as Sider, Taleh, Samar, Selm, Dahi, Kadad, Summer, Sahah, Barseem, Spring, Citrus and other species that are displayed by the beekeepers inside.

These types of honey, he said, could be differentiated by color; Sider is reddish yellow and Al-Shawka is black. The Hungarian honey is white, but it is considered rare. These good varieties lure thousands of people to buy honey from the festivals.

Honey is distinguished by the special smell and taste which helps to identify their type either. Each type of honey has a particular smell, which is determined by the plants from which the bees gather the honey.

Meteb Bin Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, a beekeeper who graduated from the Beekeepers Association Institute in Al-Baha, said he joined the Institute in its third round. He received five beehives and bee supplies, in addition to information about beekeeping and honey harvesting. Then he continued to work in this field and now he owns about 80 beehives that produce all types of honey.

Nasser Bin Saeed Al-Ghamdi, a beekeeper who has been participating in the Honey Festival from its first round, said he managed to develop combinations of nuts mixed with honey. In addition to concentrated royal jelly, amber and bee glue, he can make honey upon a customer’s request.

He assured that the mixing does not affect the quality of the honey. He participated in many international competitions and at the last one he attended he was placed third in Europe for his nuts honey.

Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani, the festival’s supervisor, talked about the festival’s activities and events. It included honey exhibition tent, various theater activities, the honey friends’ corner, photography and plastic arts exhibition, artisans, folklore shows, honey café, poetry corner, children's corner and the young tourist.

In addition to a workshop for murals, honey train, puppet shows, games and biking stunts, there is a dedicated post office run by Saudi Post at the festival, from where about 3 tons of honey has been shipped since the opening of the event.

SOURCE : SAUDIGAZETTE