National Parks in Baluchistan

 

 Hangol National Park: -

Hangol National Park is the largest national park of Pakistan located near Makran coastal line. Its area is 6100 square kilometers. Its unique feature is that it is consist of six different ecosystems in this small area, it has desert, forest, river, streams and cost line. It is home to some extremely endangered wildlife that is not found anywhere on earth, for example you can find blind dolphin in its coastal region which is unique to this region. Green and olive turtles came to the beach everyday in the month of august to lay their eggs but recently due to climate change and pollution their numbers are decreasing. Its ponds and water bodies became a stop for migratory birds in migration season. Its swamps are also home to some 60 crocodiles. It is home to 257 plant species and 289 animal species. Some of the animals living here includes Persian leopard, Indian wolf, golden jackal, stripped hyena, Sindh ibex, urial, vultures, eagles etc.

This National Park is also famous for its unique rock formations, among which the most famous are the princess of hope, which look like a woman standing and looking at the distant sea, its name was given by Angelina Julie when she came to Pakistan to on UN humanitarian mission, and second is the Balochi sphinx which look like a lion sitting exactly like the one built in Egypt. Nani Mandir is one of the most famous destinations for Hindu’s pilgrimage, 250,000 Hindus came every spring to visit and pray in this temple.20 to 30 thousand people are reported to attend the annual event each year.  This temple is reported to be thousands of years old.

Hazarganji-chiltal National Park

 

Hazarganji Chiltan National Park is a national park in the Mastung District. This National Park was established in 1980 to provide a safe habitat to the chiltan ibex found in the area to save them from the hunters and poachers. It is spread over 327000 acres of land, and it is only 20 Km away from the provincial capital of Baluchistan, Quetta. This park is located in Suleiman Mountain range, it has two types of eco systems, which are desert and Forest. Wild life in this National Park consists of 30 species of mammals and 30 species of reptiles, which consist of shikra, golden eagle, ibex, vultures, wolf, jackals etc. in the protection of these sanctuaries endangered species are flourishing and growing well. Management should make sure to protect the ecosystem from any kind of foreign invasive species.

Some of its area is open for short safari ride, people who visit Quetta, definitely go to Hanna lake and Hazargangi national park. They have a restaurant their to serve the visitors.

Ziarat juniper forest: -

Ziarat is home to biggest forest of juniper in Pakistan. Its mountains are covered in juniper forest because the juniper tree grow in the altitude of 2000 to 3000 meters from the sea level, where the temperature is cold and the climate is arid. This forest is spread across 113,000 hectors of land. The locals of ziarat have been using this forest as the source of fire wood and timber for centuries but now with the increase of population the forest can’t keep up with the demand and it is being consumed faster than it is replenishing itself. The government of Pakistan has declared it as a national heritage to protect it from being destroyed because some of the trees here are 6000 to 7000 years old because of this they are also known as living fossils. It is also home to some the rare sub species of juniper such as Pashtun juniper.      

Most famous tourist destinations in Baluchistan

 

Baluchistan is the biggest province of Pakistan consisting up of 44% of its total area, but it is scarcely populated because of which it severely lacks in infrastructure. It is rich in natural beauty, wildlife, mountains and many other resources but due to lack of roads very few of its beautiful locations can be accessed by people. Recently Pakistan government has started to give focus to the tourism industry so we can hope that they will do their part to make these locations accessible to people.

Hanna lake: -

Hanna lake is one of the most famous lake in Baluchistan. It is located 16 kilometers from city of Quetta. Due to easy accessibility many people got there to visit. There is an also a restaurant on the bank ok lake where to can eat under the shadow of huge pine trees. This lake was built by the British in 1890 as a fresh water reservoir. From 2000 -2010 the lake became dry effecting the local wildlife and migratory birds and later in 2011 it was refilled.

Astola island: -

It is small island of 6.7 square kilometer located 39 kilometers from the port of Pasni. It is an inhabited island, its terrain is very tough, its bank is like a steep wall in the sea. Its significance is that it is the only island of Pakistan.

Ziarat

Ziarat city is located in ziarat district,126km away from provincial capital Baluchistan. It has a mountainous region covered in sanober forest. Its climate is cool in summer and is covered in a layer of white snow in winter. It is famous for the Quaid-e-Azam residency where Muhammad Ali Jinnah spend his last two and half month of his life. This place has been turned into a museum; People come here to visit the house to see how Quaid-e-Azam used to live. It also contains the art gallery filled with Jinnah’s and his family rare pictures. Ziarat is also famous for its apple groves and the hospitality that the locals offer.

Gwadar

Gwadar is a coastal city of Baluchistan, Located at the bank of Arabian sea, 650 km away from Karachi. This city is famous for its sea view. It was a neglected region, just in past decade the development started to take pace due to agreement with China for the city development and its port. It has a beautiful coast line. Most famous beaches of Gwadar are hammerhead beach and Turtle beach, whose name came from the turtles that there every year to lay their eggs. Main occupation of locals is fishing, so it is also famous for its local sea food. Pakistan army constructed a cricket stadium in the basin highest peak Mount batil, which was declared as the most beautiful stadium in the world. It is also famous for the Omani forts and boat building facilities.

Hingol National Park: -

It is the Pakistan biggest National Park with the area of 6100 square kilometer. It is home some very rare wildlife and plants unique to hingol. Most unique thing about this national Park is that has six completely different ecosystems, which contains sea, desert, forest mountains, river, streams and vast plains. Apart from that Hingol is famous for it unique rock formations, you can find there a stone looking like a lady standing an looking in the distant named the princess of hope. You can see a naturally formed sphinx from the rock which exactly look like the sphinx in Egypt built by pharos. It is also famous for its kali Mata Mandir which is estimated to be thousands of year old, every year 20000 to 30000 Hindus gather in the center of hangul park to par

Ziarat

 

       

                                                                                           

Region of Ziarat was a part of Sibi District but in 1986 it was declared to be a separate district. It is a place rich in natural beauty. It is mostly a mountainous region filled with snober forest. It contains the biggest forest of snober trees in Pakistan and second largest in the world with the area of 113,000 hectors. It is also extremely rich in wild life as well. Due to its height from sea level the region is mildly cold in summer and cover in snow in winter, it has continental climate. The people of ziarat are extremely welcoming, people visiting ziarat often mention their polite attitude and hospitality. It is land of apple fruit groves; locals often invite visitors passing by to their groves to eat apples and other fruits as much as they like. You can easily find a fruit tree in the wild as well.

Quaid Residency: -

 

Ziarat is also famous for the Quaid-e-Azam residency also known as Ziarat residency where Muhammad Ali Jinnah spend land two and half moths of his life. This place also has an history of its own, in July 2013 it became a target of a terrorist rocket attack and a lot of its structure was destroyed but it was later rebuilt and inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It is preserved the way it used to during Jinnah’s stay. This residence also has its own art gallery consisting of some very rare pictures of    Quaid-e-Azam and his family. Many people know ziarat because of this residency. It has been given the status of national heritage.

Zero Point: -

Another famous visiting point in ziarat is zero point, it is the highest peak in ziarat, from where you can see a lot of mountain tops and view is really eye catching. The journey to zero point is also very interesting as well because it consists of very steep road, and on the way, you can find a very famous stay point, where, there is tree which is hundreds of years old and it looks exactly like it written Allah in Arabic, many people go to visit this location. The region of ziarat has a lot more to offer to its visitors but due to limited infrastructure, especially road people can’t reach to locations because to mountainous terrain.

Tips and Tricks: -

Mostly people go to ziarat from Quetta, provincial capital of Baluchistan. And its is approximately 126 Km away from Quetta which took roughly 3 hours to reach their and there are not a lot of facilities along the way, so if you are going on your own transport make sure to check air in your car tires, make sure you a spare tire and tools for any case of emergency. You should have your fuel tank full and you should also buy some food to eat along the way. It is a place worth going. Or you can book a trip through trip.pk it will be extremely economic and secondly you will not have to worry about any thing because it will be taken care off by the trip organizers. To enjoys some of the view that you normally can’t I would suggest you bring a drone with you for the ariel shot because the beauty of this terrain from the ariel view in believable. If you are travelling from Punjab or any other place to ziarat make sure that you dress and pack things according to the weather in ziarat. Apart from Ziarat city, other regions are scarcely populated, and because of rough terrain some time mobile signals don’t work their so it better if get a map or plan before hand, the locations you want to visit and plan accordingly, or hire a local tour guide.