The banyan tree is located on a high mountain in Huoi Luong village, in Nam Lich commune in Muong Ang district in Dien Bien. It is protected by local people.

Vu A Long, Huoi Luong Village’s Party Committee Secretary, said the banyan tree is unique because it is the only tree in the locality where wild bees flock together to make nests. Because there are more than 100 beehives on the branches, villagers call it the "lucky tree".

Long said the tree is the asset of the entire village. Locals have agreed that no one is allowed to arbitrarily take away honeybees. People who want to exploit honey have to spend money to use the tree. The money paid by the buyers will be equally divided among all villagers, while the remaining money will be used for parties.

“In the past, when I was small, there were only seven beehives on the tree, but more and more bees have been flocking here in the last 10 years. The figure has exceeded 130 hives. We organize honey collecting once every year,” Long said.

Before conducting the exploitation, locals have to bring a chicken, cakes and fruits to the tree, and burn incense for permission. After that, they can climb the tree to get honey.

May is the high season of honey exploitation. In 2023 alone, locals collected 1 ton of honey, which was sold for VND120 million. It is estimated that the total value of the 130 hives this year is VND300 million. The number of hives is double that of last year.

Local people have been strictly protecting the tree for many years because, in addition to economic benefits, villagers visit the banyan tree to burn incense and pray for luck, peace and health.

Trinh Hoai Nam, who once bought the whole tree to obtain the right to get honey, said the ancient tree has the height of 50 meters and the diameter enough for 5-6 people embraces.

He then used a team of experienced workers with protection masks and globes to exploit honey. To get honey from the beehive, the workers had to wear protective belts, climb each banyan branch, and smoke hives to scare away the bees to get honey.

They used knives to cut hives and get honey, put into bags and used a rope to drop honey into the ground.

Nhi Tien - Trong Tung