TIGER MOUNTAIN POKHARA LODGE

All the Tiger Mountain Group has Responsible Tourism as its core ethos to ensure sustainability of our lodges and camps. As so many of our operations are situated in fragile natural habitats or among local populations whose economic base is precarious, good conservation and responsible tourism go hand-in-hand and make good sense morally and economically. These days there is so much talk about eco-tourism, sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, etc. Tiger Mountain has been talking rather less and doing it long before the “buzz-words” were invented. Our goal is to develop the concept of “Environmentally Responsible and Sustainable Conservation Tourism.”

What do we mean by responsible tourism?

In a nutshell, that all our operations should impact minimally on the natural environment; should respect and enhance the cultural integrity of local communities; should contribute to mutual understanding between cultures – so that our community can learn about our guests and vice versa in a spirit of mutual respect and friendship. We should be responsible in terms of care for all the widest scope of stakeholders – guests, staff, local and national community, shareholders, etc. We should give at least as much as we benefit, as individuals, an operation and as an organisation. This will engender sustainability.

How do we aim for sustainability?

You will see many examples around you; organically grown vegetables, our Community Support Partnership - in which we support various community-lead and community-based conservation and education initiatives, and our locally employed staff. In partnership with our affiliate UK-registered charity, the International Trust for Nature Conservation (ITNC), we have a long-term support programme for the local Community Forest User Groups to enhance the forest area in a manner that is viable for traditional users. We aim to maximise local purchases from the village and surrounding area and minimise the use of imported goods as far as possible.  

In the construction of the lodge principles of sustainable tourism were integrated from the start with local architectural design – that respects traditional design themes – and artisan craftsmanship. Many of the staff working in the lodge today formed part of the 350 local male and female labourers, craftsmen and overseers who constructed the beautiful buildings from raw local stone carefully hand-quarried from the community quarry, rich Sal timber from the Nepal Terai plains and pine from the western hills. Thus the bond between the staff and the whole operation is exceptionally close.  

Even small issues contribute to the concept of sustainable tourism – such as the use of brushes made with Amrisho grass grown locally, the freshly baked bread and focus on authentic Nepali food at lunchtime, served on traditional bronze plates. We have gone far in working as a paperless office, minimising the use of paper, and using sustainable lokta paper (artisan-made in Nepal) as far as possible. We recycle as much as possible and convert all bio-degradable waste to compost or feed to local livestock. We use low-energy bulbs and have recently acquired a three-phase electricity line from the Nepal Electricity Authority that allows us to make dramatic reductions in the use of diesel generators by utilising Nepal’s reasonably green hydro-power. This ha salso reduced our carbon footprint.

The very fact that you are reading this note forms part of our attempts at sustainable tourism. It is also about informing our guests as to the nature of the community and environment in which they are staying.

You might like to consider it as tourism with a conscience.

The Future

Sustainable tourism is infinite and we can always do better. To help us achieve an even higher level of sustainability, our staff have started a Sustainable Action Group (SAG), a staff forum that develops and monitors enhanced sustainability of the Lodge operations and in the surrounding communities. Over time, this pilot scheme will include more independent community representation and can be replicated in other Tiger Mountain operations.

We are developing partnerships with local Women’s and Youth Groups in the community to consider ways of improved waste management and recycling of both the Lodge’s and community generated waste.

In order to monitor our progress and establish benchmarks for the future, we have almost completed a Responsible Tourism Audit Scheme with the support the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University (UK). This will enable us to define and quantify our achievements as well as indicating future potential for further improvements.

We thus welcome your enthusiastic support. If you have any thoughts or ideas as to how we could do better, please e-mail Jhalak or Marcus at tmpkr@tigermountain.com.