What some people are willing to do for honey

My experience with African bees has been extremely exciting and has kept me learning and excited about them for a long time. These bees are unlike any I have read or heard about before. They go against all the theories of beekeeping, and are an aggressive and inexplicable bunch. Books and long-time beekeepers say they should act one way, but these bees turn around and act another.
I have spent many hours with the bees in Congo, observing, and learned their habits. Between times of working these bees, I study, and research reasons for their actions in hopes that I can figure out how to get them to act like "normal bees". I am still baffled by habits, but have a few ideas that I think might help to train them a little better and calm them down.
Other places in Congo and surrounding countries raise bees just fine. In fact, the first place I saw an African raising bees was when I went with a Cameroonian man and saw him working a few of his 300 hives without any protection!
Where I will be in CAR is about 1/4 mile from Cameroon, and my hope is that the bees will not be as aggressive or stubborn as the ones I know from Congo. From some research I have done already it sounds like they are not as bad.
While surfing the web a few days ago, I ran across a picture on BBC.

The caption reads: A Bayaka tribesman climbs a 40m tree to reach the most sought after of jungle foods, honey

Would you climb a 40ft tree with nothing but a vine holding you to it, and no bee suit to get honey??? Think this this guy would like to learn about raising bees in a hive, and wearing a bee suit instead of just a pair of shorts?