Kund Malir

The Hingol National Park

A national is mostly constructed for the purpose of preserving. It is widely for the preservation of nature which may include animals, birds, plants, and many other things. Pakistan is a country rich in variety of flora and fauna. Flora is the biological or scientific word for plants whereas fauna is for animals. Pakistan has some unique species which cannot be find in the other parts of the world, one of which include “the blind dolphin” which is found only in Pakistan. Pakistan has also made a number of National park to preserve its unique varieties of flora and fauna. The national park of Pakistan are Maragalla hills national Park, Devsai national park, Khirthar parkar national park, Chinji National Park, Ayub National Park, and the Hingol National Park. These national parks are situated in different provinces of Pakistan.

The Hingol National Park is found in the province of Baluchistan which has a variety of different plants and animals. Beside this Baluchistan is the richest province of Pakistan in terms of natural resources. The Hingol National Park is the largest national park of all the national parks in Pakistan with an area of about 1650 square kilometers. This national Park is spread in three districts of Baluchistan which are District Lasbella, District Gwadar, and District Awaran. It was established in 1988 for the preservation of wildlife in these three districts. The journey to the Hingol National park is not difficult as it is situated near Makran coastal highway which made it easier for the visitor to go there. The Hingol National Park is about 200 km away from Karachi. The most attracting aspect of the Hingol National Park is its unique topography. Topography means the features of the land of an area. The land is being shaped and cut into amazing sculpture which are very pleasing for the eyes. In the Hingol National Park we have an amazing beach and sea on one side whereas we have desert and dry mountains on the other side. This combination of opposites make it more interesting and unique. The Hingol National Park got its name from the river Hingol which flows in this area. One other exciting aspect of this national park is that it has four different kinds of ecosystems. The ecosystem of the Hingol National Park vary from the arid tropical forest in the north to arid montane in the south. There are a number of drift sand which can be termed as coastal semi desert. The four ecosystems of the Park are desert ecosystem, marine ecosystem, fresh water ecosystem, and land ecosystem.

A team of approximately 20 people is responsible for running the affairs of the Hingol National Park which include its security, care of the animals and plants, and administration of the park. The team is divided into game watchers, deputy rangers, and a manager of the park. The manager of the park is answerable to the Conservator and Secretary Wildlife, Forest, Livestock, Environment, and Tourism. The Hingol National Park is divided into three section for better management and administration as it is the largest park of the country. These sections include inland range, aghor range, and marine range. This park naturally consist of mountains, sand dunes, sea, and plain areas. Hingol River flows across the park and before entering into sea falls from rocks and stones which provide home for the migrating water birds and the crocodiles.

The Hingol National Park is well known for the preservation of the endangered species of invertebrates in additional to the variety of birds, animal, and plants it has. The wild animals in the park includes 3000 ibexes, 1500 urinals, 1200 chinkara, and a number of other variety. The regular visitors of the park include houbara bustard, Dalmatian and spot-billed pelican migratory birds which visit the Hingol National Park  on regular basis. The mammals included in the park consist of Sindh leopard, Indian fox, Jungle cat, Jackal, Sindh wild goat, Indian grey mongoose, Hedgehog, Indian Pangolin, Honey Badger, Chinkara Gazelle, Blandford’s Urial, Porcupine, rock mouse, Cairo spiny mouse, and ibexes. The Sind leopard, Blandford Urial, and Chinkara Gazelle are the threatened species of the Hingol National Park.

The birds of the Hingol National Park include Houbara Bustard, Dalmatian and Spot-billed Pelican, Bonnelli’s eagle, Imperial eagle, Tawny eagle, Golden eagle, Eurasian griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture, Cinereous vulture, Lagger falcon, Red-headed merlin, Kestrel, Close-Barred sandgrouse, Grey partridge, See See partridge, Stone Curlew, Indian sand grouse, Coronetted sand grouse, Painted sand grouse, Eagle owl , Sind pied woodpecker, Hume’s chat, Brown rock pipit, Striped buning, Finche larks, Hoopoe, Shrikes and Wheatears. Some of these are migratory birds which comes to the park every season. There are 14 species of birds of special conservation interest on account of being threatened (as per IUCN Red List 2005), very rare or key species of the park.

• Sociable lapwing(critically endangered)
• Saker falcon(endangered))
• White-backed vulture(vulnerable)
• Spot-billed pelican(vulnerable)
• Dalmatian pelican(vulnerable)
• Eastern imperial eagle(vulnerable)
• Pallas’s fish eagle(vulnerable)
• Houbara bustard(vulnerable)
• Black ibis(near-threatened)
• Black-tailed godwit(near-threatened)
• Sooty falcon(rare)
• Goliath heron(vagrant)
• Desert owl(confined to Makran Coast only)
• Brown fish owl(very rare)

As the Hingol National Park also consist of desert and dry mountains so it does have a variety of reptiles. The Marsh Crocodile, Olive Ridley and Green Marine Turtles, Desert Monitor lizard, Yellow Monitor lizard, and different species of lizard and chameleon are few of them. In fishes the golden mahasheer and botchee are found in the park. The Hingol National Park also has a number of plants few of which have not been discovered yet. About 250 species of plants have been collected in an initial survey.

This park is one of the example of the natural beauty of Pakistan. As it hold such a variety of ecosystems, animals, plants, and birds. Such huge and unique collection cannot be found in any other national park of the country. The Hingol National Park is a soothing and peaceful place to be close to nature and to have an extraordinary experience.