Chitral National Park

Chitral National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location	Chitral, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Coordinates	35°56′0″N 71°40′0″E / 35.933333°N 71.666667°E / 35.933333; 71.666667Coordinates: 35°56′0″N 71°40′0″E / 35.933333°N 71.666667°E / 35.933333; 71.666667
Area	7750 hectares hectares
Established	1984
Governing body	Wildlife and Parks department of Government of Pakistan

Chitral National Park is one of the national parks of Pakistan. It is located in Gol valley and Kafir Kalash land of Chitral District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan beside the Chitral River, at a distance of two hours drive from Chitral city. The park is also known as Chitral Gol National Park. The word Gol in the local language means 'the valley'.

Legal status

Up until 1983, Chitral Gol was considered to be the private property of His Highness the Mehtar of Chitral. The status of the park has been in dispute since and has become the issue of ongoing litigation between His Highness and the Government of Pakistan. The most recent decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been that the park in its entirety is the personal property of His Highness. Thus the legal validity of its designation as a National Park has been challenged by judicial review.

Parameters

The way leading to the park is quite narrow and dangerous, yet more risky during the rainy days. It is located between 1450 metres and about 5000 metres above sea level. It has an area of 77.5 square kilometres.

Nature

This park includes three valleys. Several glaciers also lie in the park through which several springs make their way and ultimately form a stream of 18 metres. The cold water of this stream falls towards the east into the Chitral River. The park is rich in trees particularly Cedar trees .This park also serves to provide shelter to a vast diversity of animals especially Markhor, an endangered wild goat species.^[1] The subspecies, which occurs in the Park is the Astor Markhor. Despite a decline from over 500 to only around 200 individuals in the park during the 1980s, Chitral National Park still holds the largest population of the Astor Markhor in the world.^[2]

Conifers and Flowering Plants Cedrus deodara (Deodar)

Aves Bearded Vulture Demoiselle Crane Golden Eagle Himalayan Griffon Vulture Himalayan Monal Himalayan Snowcock Chukar Partridge Snow Partridge Peregrine Falcon

Mammals Himalayan Black Bear Astor Markhor Ladakh Urial Red Fox Siberian Ibex Snow Leopard Tibetan Wolf Yellow-throated Marten

Weather

The annual rainfall in its region is estimated to be 462 mL. In September it rains more on the spectacular peaks surrounding the park. However, in November the rainfall is more in the valleys and on the lower peaks .There is also a session of snowfall during the winter season. The snow covered white peaks also enhance the beauty till June. After which it starts melting. The general weather is cold and dry. The temperature ranges from -12.2 to 43.3 °C.

Notes

1. ^ Markhor
2. ^ Valdez, R. (2008). Capra falconeri. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 April 2009.

External links

• Chitral National Park
• Sarhad Tourism Corporation, Government of NWFP, Pakistan