Chitral Gol National Park is situated in the north-west of Pakistan and in close proximity to the Afghan border. It is south-west of Chitral town, the district capital. A jeep-track leads to the park which climbs up the mountainside with breath-taking views of the valley floor below. The journey to the start of the park is less than 2 hours and 2 sign welcoming you to the national park. The boards give out basic information such as wildlife found in the park, elevations and some basic rules. According to the board we were nearly at about 2300m above sea level and the valley bottom was about 1500m high. That is a drop of about 800 metres. Something strange struck me – the Snow Leopard and Markhor had their faces desecrated – some muslims believe that it’s sinful to re-create or photograph living things as on the Day of Judgement they will be asking the image-maker for life who would not be able give it. I am sure this was the reason for the act. Even wildlife conservation had to feel the Mullah’s austere glare. It would have been nicer if these people were involved in making sure people did not hunt or poach in restricted areas. The national park was once a hunting lodge built by the Mehtar’s, the Chitrali Royal family.
Markhor’s are found withi the park and their numbers have increased from around 100 in the 1970’s to over 600 now. There are also Ibex and Urial (wild sheep) within the park. There are unconfirmed reports of Musk Deer and Rhesus Monkeys too. Other wildlife include Snow leopards, Wolves, the Red Fox, Yellow-throated Martens and according to the park staff Black Bears are now no longer recorded around here. Birds include Himalayan Griffon Vultures, Golden Eagles, Lammergier vulture, Himalayan Snowcock, Himalayan Monal Pheasant, Snow partridge, Rock Partridge, Raven’s as well as smaller passerines. A large beady-eyed looking crow passed by. It was hard to make out if it was a Raven or a Himalayan Jungle Crow but the former seemed more likely. A large raptor was spotted in the distance sailing against along a ridge but the distance was too great for identification. The Cedar trees within the park were magnificent and provided many great photographs against the beautiful backdrop. Cedar Tree branches were horizontally arranged ad appeared to be drooping at the end.
We were stopping at Chag Bini a guest house within the national park. The park was serene and received very few visitors. A jeep full of boys from Islamabad arrived with a ghetto-blaster pumping out the latest Hindi or Punjabi pop songs obviously ruining the peaceful tranquil atmosphere. They wandered around for a bit not venturing too far and then decided to go back as they stared looking for something to do. Did it ever occur to them that they could hike here?
I went for a hike along a path which lasted 3 hours. The sun was shining thankfully the open forest provided some relief. I managed to see a few Kestrels, Golden Orioles and a black and white smaller passerine but nothing else. I did get a fright as somewhere from behind me but further up some small stones tumbled down. There was no other human in this area of the park and I was quite a distance from the jeep-driver.
The views across the valley and further down were magnificent. The forest was not closed canopy and quite open. The area was extremely beautiful but it was in my luck not to see that much in terms of fauna. More time was needed overall and the areas was worth camping out without a doubt.
Re: Chitral Gol National Park
for some reason i cant upload the pics here directly as you once requested mr shikra! just thought i'd let you know before you tell me off!