THE SANI BEE SPOT

The Sani Bee Spot is the fruit of a collaboration between Sani Resort and The Bee Camp, the first Greek NGO focusing on the protection of pollinators. It is the largest and first interactive Bee Spot in Greece, which aims to protect the bees and other pollinators found at Sani Resort, while highlighting their relationship with humans and plants. The Sani Bee Spot is an innovative bee-friendly garden, with 7 different stations, dedicated to the life cycle of solitary bees. Each station, carefully designed to serve both humans and pollinators, gives us information about the biology of wild bees as well as real-life examples of local bee species. Apart from educational activities that can take place here, the Bee Spot also serves as a resting spot for both people and pollinators, while raising awareness on biodiversity and the importance of bees.

Location: Sani Beach on the Bousoulas Beach path

During millions of years of evolution, bees and plants together have adapted to the texture and climate of each region, creating close symbiotic relationships. Through the diet of bees, plants have secured their pollination, transmitting genetic material through the insects' bodies and ensuring their survival. Using impressive disguise techniques such as bright colours and intense scents, plants continue to attract bees while also acting as flavours for our cooking experiments. One plant species alone, however, is not enough to keep bees nearby. A bee-friendly garden needs a combination of plants that can flower continuously throughout the different seasons, providing enough nutrition for every stage of the bees’ life cycle.

Most bee species live solitary lives, away from hives. Without inhabiting a permanent shelter or producing honey, these bees have few reasons to be defensive and use their sting. What really connects them with other bees is the distribution of pollen from flower to flower and the plants’ pollination. Just like a butterfly or a rose chafer they spend their days continuously traveling from one plant to another and from meadow to forest. The Bee Tower, like an old tree trunk that is slowly decomposing, acts as a resting spot during this trip that can offer short-term protection and more importantly a safe place to bring their babies to life! Xylocopa violacea is one of the most common solitary bees in our country that travels alone between flowers and nests in such wooden tunnels.

“If you want to help bees, leave some soil untouched.” A simple spot with undisturbed, barren land is of big significance to the life of many solitary bees. A lot of species, like the local miner bee, Anthophora plumipes, choose to seek shelter inside the earth, where they can find protection from predators and harsh weather conditions. Inside underground tunnels, which they dig alone, these bees lay their eggs, each one stored with a ball of pollen. This ball of pollen is the first meal of their offspring. Some straw, fallen leaves and other natural materials can sometimes offer more cover and humidity to many other species that live or travel through the pollinator garden.