KARACHI: One of the largest in the country, Baluchistan’s Hingol National Park Baluchistan offers a unique and versatile habitats including the mountains, desert, flat valleys and a view of the Arabian Sea, beautiful landscapes, wonderful mountains, mud volcanoes and with variety of animals, reptiles, birds, fish, cetaceans and other protect wildlife but has been very conveniently ignored by both the provincial and the national government.
Many of the wildlife species found in this park have international importance and 16 of them have been included by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its international red list of endangered species. The park also has a sacred Hindu temple, the Hinglaj shrine locally known as Nani Mandar and holy Chandragup mud volcano. Scattered over an area 1,650 squire kilometers (over 600,000 hectares) and located on Makran coast in Baluchistan around 200 kilometers from Karachi, the Hingol National park was declared as protected national park in 1997.
The park stretches 109 kilometers on Makran Coastal Highway and lies in three major coastal districts of Lasbela, Gwadar and Awaran, with a widening channel or estuary of the Hingol River, which provides suitable atmosphere to diversity of bird, fish and other wildlife species. If managed carefully, park could possibly be a potential tourist hot spot as millions of people from India, Nepal and other Hindu majority countries would love to visit the scared religious site for pilgrimage.
Wildlife and beach lovers, adventurous travelers and tourists from around the world could be attracted, giving an economic boost to the local community which is already living below poverty line. Ecotourism will also portray a softer image of the terrorism-hit country.
Understanding the potential of the park, the Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI), a Karachi based NGO in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has initiated different training programs to train the local communities to start the ecotourism industry on self-help basis.
During training programme at Lasbella University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences (LUAWMS), the Vice-Chancellor, LUAWMS Dr Abdul Hameed Bajoi, Ishaq Soomro and Noor Mohammad Baladi of PDI and Nadeem Mirbahar of IUCN asked the local community of the Hingol National Park to develop ecotourism so that their lives could be enhanced.
After the training program, PDI conducted a tour of the park for a group of journalists. Talking to Pakistan Today, Mirbahar said that there is a large variety of wildlife including Chinkara gazelle, leopard, wolf, pangolin, Red fox, Cape hare, Baluchistan gerbil, Spiny mouse, Jungle cat, Desert cat, Blue whale, dolphin, reptiles like Bengal Monitor lizard, Grey Monitor lizard, geckos, skunks, snakes like Cobra, Saw-scaled cobra wiper, Horned viper and sea snakes and fish, prawn and shrimps including Seabrass, Silver whiting, Black Pomfret, Javelin grunter,
Gold spot mullet, Spotted mackerel, Rainbow shrimp, Indian White, Red tail Shrimp, Green tiger prawn, birds including Bonnelli’s eagle, Pallas fishing eagle, Tawny eagle, Red-headed merlin, Close barred sandgouse, See see partridge, Stone curlew, Crowned sand grouse, Eagle owl, Sindh woodpecker etc. at the park.
“We must work together to highlight the importance of this park at an international level so that local communities can start ecotourism,” he said.
