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| A Woman's Directory For Travel and Life. WAVE Journey is your one stop online resource for women oriented businesses and services around the world. WAVE Journey is for every woman to enjoy. If you love to travel, cook, read or revel in outdoor activities this website is for you. If you are looking to connect with other like-minded women or if you are interested in finding businesses or services that cater to women, WAVE Journey is your number one online resource. |
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| Women's Adventures, Vacations, Experiences ~ Your Journey Starts Here! |
Collectors of Birds' Nests of Koh Petra Marine Park ~ continued
To use bare hands to pick a nest displeases and angers the gods. If a collector
accidentally touches a nest he will descend at once, taking it as a sign from the gods that
it would be dangerous for him to continue climbing that day. During the collecting season,
from February to May, the collectors work without food from sunrise until sunset, when
the caves fill with flocks of bats and roosting swiftlets.
Sometimes nest-gatherers have to swim underwater to reach a submerged cavern or to
squeeze through tiny blowhole passages to reach a cave’s ceiling. The caves themselves
are often spectacular cathedrals of stalagmites and stalactites, covered in thick carpets of
guano and seething with hordes of golden cockroaches.
accidentally touches a nest he will descend at once, taking it as a sign from the gods that
it would be dangerous for him to continue climbing that day. During the collecting season,
from February to May, the collectors work without food from sunrise until sunset, when
the caves fill with flocks of bats and roosting swiftlets.
Sometimes nest-gatherers have to swim underwater to reach a submerged cavern or to
squeeze through tiny blowhole passages to reach a cave’s ceiling. The caves themselves
are often spectacular cathedrals of stalagmites and stalactites, covered in thick carpets of
guano and seething with hordes of golden cockroaches.
Big business
Birds’ nest collecting is a
lucrative business and is
tightly controlled. The
collectors have an
exclusive government
concession to collect
nests in the Marine Park.
The nest-collection
concession, which is
auctioned every 5 years,
costs about THB
100,000,000. The nests
are so precious that they
are protected by guards
during the collection
season, in order to deter
robbers who might steal
them. In spite of this
protection, guards have
been bribed and nests
robbed. One miscreant,
for whom the
consequences of
discovery were very
adverse, was detected
by his sudden show of
wealth, which he had
spent on gold necklaces
and pick-up trucks.
Birds’ nest collecting is a
lucrative business and is
tightly controlled. The
collectors have an
exclusive government
concession to collect
nests in the Marine Park.
The nest-collection
concession, which is
auctioned every 5 years,
costs about THB
100,000,000. The nests
are so precious that they
are protected by guards
during the collection
season, in order to deter
robbers who might steal
them. In spite of this
protection, guards have
been bribed and nests
robbed. One miscreant,
for whom the
consequences of
discovery were very
adverse, was detected
by his sudden show of
wealth, which he had
spent on gold necklaces
and pick-up trucks.
