Kirthar National Park

Post-monsoon (October to February) is the best season. Days sit 20 to 28°C, evenings are cool, and the range briefly turns green after the monsoon rains sprout wild grass across the arid basins and fill small ephemeral ponds. Migratory birds arrive at Hub Dam and Kirthar wetlands from November to February. Avoid April to September when day temperatures climb above 40°C and much of the wildlife retreats to the shade.

There are no hotels inside the park itself. The Khar rest house near Hub Dam accepts overnight guests with prior permission from the Sindh Wildlife Department, and Gorakh has basic wooden huts and camping sites at the summit. Most travellers day-trip from Karachi (for Hub Dam, Ranikot and the southern safari trails) or use Dadu as an overnight for Gorakh and the northern reaches.

Kirthar is a controlled wildlife area, and access to the core zones (Kharchat, Thano Bola Khan) requires a Sindh Wildlife Department permit, arranged in advance through your operator. Foreign nationals need a No Objection Certificate for the wider Sindh interior, plan a week's notice. Carry plenty of water and cash, there are no ATMs and no services inside the park. Phone signal is patchy or absent, download offline maps in advance. A 4x4 with a local driver is essential, not optional.

Kirthar is Pakistan's second-largest national park at 3,087 sq km and the country's first designated national park (1974). It protects the last significant population of Sindh ibex, one of the strongest urial populations in the region, and one of the last refuges of the striped hyena in southern Pakistan. The range itself is a north-south spine of limestone ridges rising to 2,178 m at Kutte-Ji-Qabar peak, arid and sculpted, more a Central Asian landscape than a South Asian one. Its unusual combination of Indus-valley archaeology (Ranikot, the Great Wall) and pristine wildlife makes it one of the most under-visited but rewarding destinations in the country.