Field notes · 2026-11-02 · 5 min

Filming women honey collectors in the Sundarbans

Notes from "Women of the Honey Forest", our documentary for TRT about women who work in the world's largest mangrove forest.

The Sundarbans, on the southern edge of Bangladesh, is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It protects the coast from cyclones, feeds thousands of families through fishing and honey collecting, and is home to the Bengal tiger. For our documentary "Women of the Honey Forest" for TRT, we followed women whose lives are tied to this forest.

Honey collecting in the Sundarbans is seasonal and dangerous work. Collectors go deep into the forest by boat, look for wild hives in the mangroves and work under the constant risk of tiger attacks. Many families around the forest have lost a husband or a father this way, and women have had to carry the household on their own.

Filming here needs patience. Tides decide when boats can move, the light under the mangrove canopy changes quickly, and the forest is a protected area with strict rules. We worked with local guides and forest permissions, kept the crew small and spent time in the villages before we started filming, so that the women could tell their stories in their own words.

What stayed with us was not the danger but the strength and humour of the women we met: how they organise their work, support each other and keep their children in school.

The Sundarbans are also on the front line of climate change. Rising salinity and stronger cyclones change what grows and what people can earn. Stories like this one help audiences far away understand what that means for real families.

FOLOK makes documentaries for broadcasters such as TRT and for international organisations, from research and permissions to filming in remote locations and the final edit.