Rafaël Klock and his passion for bees

His life then took him to Portugal, where he married, then to Switzerland, first to La Chaux-de-Fonds and then to Neuchâtel. In the back of his mind, he always wanted to get back to the small insects he loved so much. And an opportunity soon presented itself. Having just started as an assistant chef at the Hôpital de La Providence and then switched to the technical service, he had long conversations with the hotel manager, who was also very interested in bees and honey production. He gave Rafaël a tour of the Espace Abeilles site in Val-de-Ruz. It doesn't take much for Rafaël Klock to get a taste for it again. He is attending beekeeping courses again, in particular to learn how to work with Swiss bees, which are very different from the Brazilian species that work 365 days a year. In Switzerland, the bees are only active for four months of the year due to the cold.

As in Brazil, he builds his first hive, which is placed on the roof of La Providence, and selects a colony of the Carnica breed, which is known for its gentle and calm nature and has adapted very well to urban life. Two more hives followed, which he also built.

With all the possibilities and ideas, our enthusiast has now got to the heart of the matter: producing healthy bee colonies for other beekeepers to enable them to start building a hive. Because we still consume too much foreign honey in Switzerland and also because the development of this sector is close to his heart. At this point, we can't help but ask him if, with all his dreams in mind, he sees his future at the head of a large beekeeping organisation. Dreams, yes, but also with a clear head and a desire to take the time to do things properly. At the moment, he still has so much to learn about his beloved bees - so in the future, as he says with a smile, time will tell what he will do with them.