OUR BEE BOOK

Taking Flight is a stunning coffee table book and a first of its kind in South Africa. It is a photographic journey and tribute to the honeybee, in particular Apis Millifera Scutellata. The photographs were taken over 3 years in residential gardens in the western and northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. There is a depth to the images which are brought to life by limited caption, taking the reader on an extraordinary visual journey of the miniature world of a honeybee and all she encounters on her foraging flight.

Chapters on bee foraging, South Africa’s unique Cape honeybee, the importance of the Fynbos Biome and alien species Eucalyptus for honeybees, as well as the inclusion on the complexity of honey and hive products, make this a truly original work which leaves the reader in no doubt that this book was borne from a place of deep love and appreciation for nature. It is authors Sharon and Natasha’s wish that with the turn of the last page, every reader will be in awe of nature and be inspired and encouraged to act with urgency in order to preserve our natural world. Photographer Sharon Crouse spent hours, weeks and months not only tracking and photographing the honeybee, but also carefully selecting every image for Taking Flight with great care.