Ziyarat Valley Balochistan

Ziarat  the capital of Ziarat District, Balochistan Province, Pakistan. It is a holiday resort, is about 130 km from the capital city of Balochistan province Quetta. The famous Quaid-e-Azam Residency is also there in the valley, where our Quaid spent few of his most memorable days. Tourists from all over Balochistan and also from Sindh province vists the valley in the harsh summers. It's overall cold weather, fascinating sceneries, lush green forests and mighty mountains attracts tourists of all kinds.

Months from May to September are months experience peak tourists visit. Specially in the days of Eid festive and other national or religional the valley is full packed. The 2016's Eid experienced about 0.4 million peoples visited.

The hill station is easily accessible from Quetta through a Highway. While accessing it from Loralai is little difficult due to bad road conditions. The third way of accessing the valley is through Harnai District although it is pretty dangerous near Dumiara waterfall.

4X4 Road to Dumiara waterfall

The main road of the station is Jinnah road which also called the red zone of the valley due to a large numbers of government and askari resorts and buildings there, few of which are,

• Frontier Corps Resthouse
• Governor House
• IG Police House
• Panther Lodge (Army)
• Juniper Lodge (Army)
• Quaid-e-Azam Residency
• Commissioner House
• CM Balochistan House

Pakistan’s largest juniper forest is located in this reserve. The ecosystem is of inestimable value for biodiversity conservation. It is also of great ecological significance, providing local, regional, and global benefits.

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• Washed green juniper forests in a rainy day alongside of Jinnah Road
• The biosphere reserve is home to the largest area of juniper forest (Juniperus excelsa) in Pakistan, covering about 110,000 hectares. It is believed that the forest is the second largest of its kind in the world.^[2] The juniper species found there are of global significance because of their advanced age and slow growth rate. In fact, the junipers of Ziarat are among the oldest living trees in the world. Although no dendrological study has yet been conducted, according to one estimate, the age of a mature tree in Ziarat can exceed 5,000 years. Local people refer to the trees as "living fossils". Their remarkable longevity allows research on past weather conditions in the region, making the species of particular significance for studies on climate change and ecology.

Juniper trees in the parking area of the Quaid-e-Azam Residence on a cloudy day

The juniper forest ecosystem of Ziarat provides a habitat for endangered wildlife species and supports a rich variety of plant species. Because of the ecosystem's biodiversity, various parts of it have been designated protected areas, including wildlife sanctuaries and game reserves. The mountain ranges, including the Khilafat Hills, consist of a core habitat that reportedly^[3] hosts several globally important wild species, among them markhors, urials, black bears and wolves. The forest also serves as a habitat for a number of other animals: Afghan pikas, foxes, jackals and several species of migratory birds. However, anthropological factors such as illegal hunting, human habitations and livestock grazing have encroached on the wildlife habitats, leading to their fragmentation.^{[citation needed]} The human population, distributed across various sub-tribes and clans, is concentrated in valleys, although small settlements are visible on mountain slopes. There are over 100,000 people living within or in close proximity to the biosphere reserve, most of whom are agropastoralists. Almost 40 percent of the population migrates for three to four months during the winter to abodes in Harnai.

A view of Khilafat Hill from Malikat

Livestock was formerly the primary source of livelihood in the reserve. Today, it has been displaced by the development of agriculture and, in particular, the promotion of horticultural crops such as apple and cherry orchards.

Quaid-e-Azam Residency