Located high in the Himalayas, Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge was opened in 1998 by Sir Edmund Hillary. Boasting an idyllic mountain setting, the lodge offers its guests spectacular views, incredible wildlife and fine food, made using REAL vanilla from LittlePod. Having supplied Chef Lalu’s kitchen for several years, we caught up with lodge owner Marcus (pictured) to learn more about life at Tiger Mountain.

Marcus, thank-you for supporting LittlePod and our Campaign for Real Vanilla! Could you tell our readers a little about Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge, please?

Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge is a mountain haven in central Nepal, floating 1,000 feet above the Pokhara Doon Valley. We have just 16 rooms and an amazing team, 80% of whom have worked with us since the beginning, when we first opened our doors in October 1998, almost 25 years ago. Small clusters of individual cottage rooms are scattered around our seven-acre site, offering a mix of naturalised grounds, forest, which teems with birds, small mammals and the occasional leopard, and a magnificent Himalayan panorama, which features three 26,000-feet mountains.

It sounds a little different to our local landscape here in East Devon!

Indeed. The lodge is situated on a hilltop facing north towards the high Himalaya, and is surrounded on three sides by community forest. The typical species at this altitude – 3,500-4,500 feet – include the Indian Chestnut and Chilaune, which is a member of the wider tea family. To the south of us lies the village of Rakhi-Shillinge with its mosaic of terraced rice fields and dry, unirrigated lands that yield crops of wheat, millet, maize and vegetables. We aim to source as much as we can locally.

When we think about the Himalayas we tend to focus on the mountains. It’s interesting that you mention the forest given the importance of preserving such fragile environments to LittlePod and our Campaign for Real Vanilla.

There are some similarities. Our challenge here is to encourage the Community Forest Committee to consider the balance between necessary extraction for use and conservation with long-term forest management approaches for regeneration. In recent years the spectre of climate change has begun to show its presence through erratic weather patterns, longer dry spells and an increasing number of forest fires. Planning for climate change resilience is crucial, and a challenge that faces us all.

It’s clear that, like the team at LittlePod, you strive to be ethical in all that you do.

Of course. Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge was established in 1998, but our origins go much deeper, to the mid-1960s, when two pioneering companies were first established: Tiger Tops, which was South Asia’s pioneering wildlife safari lodge, and Mountain Travel Nepal, Nepal’s first Himalayan trekking outfitter. We began as a blend of both, with wildlife observation and conservation written into our core DNA.

There’s a phrase you use – ‘regenerative tourism’. What is that?

From the original ethos of Tiger Tops with its focus on wildlife and environmental conservation – true eco-tourism long before the term was first coined – and Mountain Travel Nepal’s commitment to stepping lightly in the mountains, Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge has always strived to be a worthy successor to our founding partners. We have always done this through eco, sustainable and responsible tourism, and now we’re doing it through regenerative tourism. This means that we ensure our activities are a force for good, protecting and restoring the natural environment, caring for our staff family, working closely and in concert with the local community to bring benefit to all from our presence, whilst also providing a special and uniquely-Nepalese experience and setting for our visitors and guests.

Our respective locations might be rather different but there are some obvious parallels between our efforts, don’t you think?

Yes indeed and we’re proud to continue to be LittlePod’s Himalayan outpost! When it comes to your products the quality shines through, and Littlepod’s fairtrade and ethical approach resonates with our own ethos here at the lodge.

We feel the same about you! Do you remember how we first met?

I first had the pleasure of meeting Janet at LittlePod’s trade stand at the mecca that is the North Devon Agricultural Show! We chatted for a while and I took her card, looked at LittlePod’s website and thought ‘this is the right way to work’. We ordered some vanilla, Chef Lalu approved of the quality, and a relationship was born and has grown over the years. Rather wonderfully, Janet included several of Lalu’s recipes in her Vanilla cookbook (Lalu was delighted and very impressed with the presentation of his food). Janet even sent Will (pictured below, with Andrea) to Nepal to film Lalu using LittlePod products in our kitchen. The bond we share is very special.

We agree and it’s such a thrill to see Chef Lalu using REAL vanilla from LittlePod.

Chef Lalu has instructed me to ask for more LittlePod products. These are the real deal and he says he’s not worried about the price! Meanwhile Jhalak and Dol Raj ask that more LittlePodders come to visit us here. To that, we all say ‘hear, hear’!

Okay, we’re off to pack a suitcase! What should we expect if we do visit?

You’d be very welcome and like all our guests you should expect to receive a relaxed and warm greeting from our dedicated staff. They’re here to care for all our visitors in a discreet and friendly manner. Our team are proud of their abilities, but are never arrogant.

This sounds right up our street! Before we finish up and head for the airport, we have some quickfire questions for you.

Go ahead!

Describe LittlePod in three words.

Quality, ethics . . . and quality (again).

Good choice! Tell us, how do YOU like to use LittlePod vanilla?

See Janet’s Vanilla cookbook!

Be more specific!

Lalu’s Pork Sekuwa is a great favourite and Sikarni with vanilla is always popular.

But if you had to pick just one…

I just like to eat LittlePod’s natural vanilla paste straight from the tube!

You have great taste! Now, tell us about a typical morning at Tiger Mountain.

I like to start early, at 5am, to enjoy the pre-dawn silence and watch the light as it creeps over the mountains before sunrise. Then it’s up to the office at 6.30am before meeting guests, discussing menus with Lalu, the garden with Jit Bahadur and operational matters with Jhalak and the team.

Tell us an interesting fact.

Well, His Majesty King Charles, when still the Prince of Wales, once visited Nepal to observe the home villages and lifestyle of his beloved Gurkhas (he was Colonel-in-Chief of the Sirmoor Rifles, aka the 2nds Goorkhas (and very proud of their esoteric spelling)). He trekked with Mountain Travel Nepal along the ridge where the lodge now stands. Just below where I am now is Prince Charles’ Tree – a magnificent Bo – and the place where he stood to admire the view before camping at Kaulekot. It might be apocryphal, but it has been reported that it was here that he decided to propose to Lady Diana. Following the Royal Wedding, the BBC made a programme about the Royal Trek, as it then became known, and Mountain Travel Nepal received more bookings than the rest of the trekking industry put together!

That is interesting and is one more thing that connects us. Janet met Prince Charles in Honiton in 2018 and it turns out he too is a fan of REAL vanilla (he even took some LittlePod products back to Clarence House)! We’d love to talk more, Marcus, but we must wrap this up. Before we go, do you have a final message?

I’d just like send our appreciation to Janet and the entire team at LittlePod HQ. From us all, we thank you for your kindness, enthusiasm and support, and for ensuring that, despite the distance between us, you’ve never felt far away. Thank-you LittlePod.

Thank-you Marcus and right back at you!

Sending vanilla hugs to Marcus, Lalu and the team for supporting LittlePod and helping us to keep it REAL in Nepal. We look forward to supplying Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge for years to come, and hope to head to the Himalayas one day x