Seitentitel

Subsequent Journeys
1972: Turkey; 1976: Greece, Slovenia, Morocco;
1977: Greece; 1981: the peninsula of Athos.

"The early journeys were undertaken to discover where the various races were to be found, what their characteristics were and where and how far they had spread.

In the meantime I have checked the commercial and breeding value of all these races and their ecotypes. This was a lengthy and demanding task which took years of work."

From 1972 onwards Brother Adam undertook a further series of journeys to all those areas where his first impressions had led him to expect material of particular value for breeding purposes. Greece and Turkey in particular were researched even more intensively and valuable genetic material was sent back to Buckfast from all areas.

"At the end of this last journey I have fulfilled the aim I had in view. But our knowledge of the races of bees is still far from complete. We know hardly anything about the native bees of Iran and Afghanistan, nor have we exact information about the commercial qualities of the races of African bees South of the Sahara. While these gaps remain unfilled, all theories about the origin of the present day races of bees lack a firm foundation. With the increasing understanding of the importance of bee research and the progress of science, especially in the areas of inherited characteristics and breeding, someone else who has the necessary experience and equipment will certainly be able to carry on from where I had to stop."

1987: Tanzania

But the "last journey" does not always prove to be the last, and in 1987 the nearly 90-year old monk surprised his friends with his intention to make the acquaintance of the gentle East African Mountain bee, Apis mellifera monticola, in its native habitat. The monticola lives only in the woods on the hilltops of East Africa, at an altitude of 2,500 m. A whole group of close friends of Brother Adam, including a TV team, set out on a well-prepared expedition to the mountainous area of Tanzania. Breeding material was also successfully brought back to England, but Brother Adam himself was not able to carry out the planned breeding work.

The Breeding Results of the Journeys

Apart from the value of Brother Adam's accounts of his journeys as scientific