Margalla Hills National Park

Margalla Hills National Park (Urdu: مارگلہ پہاڑیاں قومی پارک) is a national park in Pakistan. It is located in Islamabad Capital Territory, close to Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The park includes the Margalla Hills, the foothills of the Himalayas. It also has Shakarparian Park and Rawal Lake.

The park was created in 1980. It is the third-largest national park in Pakistan and covers 17,386 hectares (42,960 acres). Tilla Charouni is the highest peak in the park, standing at 1604 meters.

Many people visit the park. Daman-e-Koh and Pir Sohawa are popular places to go. The Monal Restaurant, Shakarparian Cultural Complex, and Lake View Park are also favorite spots for picnics.

The park has lots of different plants and animals. You can find gray goral, barking deer, and the leopard there. There are around 600 types of plants, 402 kinds of birds, 38 mammals, and 27 reptiles. PTDC is building a chairlift in the park.

Location

Margalla Hills National Park was created in 1980. It includes the Margalla Hills, Rawal Lake, and the Shakarparian Sports and Cultural complex. The park is in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The hills range from 685 meters tall at the west to 1,604 meters at the east.

Paleontology

Millions of years ago, these mountains didn’t exist. Long ago, the Indian subcontinent was an island near Australia. It moved north and crashed into Asia. This pushed up the land and created the Himalayas. The rocks here are about 40 million years old. They have many fossils of sea creatures, shells, plants, and wood from when these hills were under an ancient ocean.

These hills are where the Himalayas begin. The Himalayas stretch for thousands of kilometers between Pakistan, India, China, and Nepal. They are the tallest mountains in the world.

Flora and fauna

The Margalla Hills National Park has many different kinds of plants and animals. The southern slopes have short, mixed forests with trees that lose their leaves and ones that keep theirs all year. In the north, you can find pines and oak trees.

The park is home to many mammals, including the Indian leopard, jungle cat, and several types of foxes and deer. Birds such as the Himalayan vulture and various falcons also live here. You can also find reptiles like the Russell's viper and the Indian cobra.

Flora

Since 1980, the Margalla Hills have been protected to help save their plants and animals. The park grows only natural trees and plants, such as Chir Pine, Olive, and Phulai. Flowering trees like Sumbal, Dhak, and Pear can also be found in the area.

Conservation campaigns

The Himalayan Wildlife Foundation has plans to help care for Margalla Hills National Park so that people and nature can both thrive.

The Margalla Hills Society, started in 1989, is a group based in Islamabad. They work to protect the park’s nature. They want to keep the park’s green spaces healthy and teach people about the park’s plants and animals.

Tourism, trekking and sports

The Margalla Hills National Park is easy to visit because it is close to the national capital, Islamabad. Many bird lovers come here all year. There are several hiking trails, and Trail 3 and Trail 5 are the most popular.

There are many places for rock climbing in the Margalla Hills. Some areas for climbing have been set up, but there is still much to explore. For beginners, some special spots are suggested (see the table below). Sport climbing is becoming more popular with young people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, but only a few local climbers are very skilled, so most climbing spots are not busy.

A well-known restaurant called Monal, which many people loved for its beautiful views of Islamabad, was torn down in 2024.