Photo: Punjab Wildlife & Parks DepartmentField guides / Punjab / Attock / Kala Chitta National Park
Field guide · Nature
Attock
Attock District · Punjab, Pakistan
Kala Chitta National Park
The “black and white” hills of Attock, a 91,000-acre national park famous for fossil whales.
Kala Chitta National Park covers about 91,342 acres of the Kala Chitta Range in Attock District, which runs east across the Pothohar Plateau towards Rawalpindi. Kala and chitta are Punjabi for “black” and “white”.
Why go
- ✦The Kala Chitta hills of Attock
- ✦Fossils of the earliest whales
- ✦Scrub forest and grassland
- ✦About 91,000 acres
About
The range is famous among palaeontologists: its Kuldana Formation, some 50 million years old, has yielded the fossils of early whales such as Pakicetus and Ambulocetus, animals still partly living on land. Today the hills are scrub forest and grassland, managed by the Punjab Wildlife & Parks Department.
Geography and Surroundings
The range's rocks include the Kuldana Formation, a thin band of red continental beds within thicker marine limestones, where Eocene mammals including primitive whales were found, and the Kohat Formation of shale and grey limestone above it.
How to Reach
In Attock District, reached from Attock or Fateh Jang; check access with the Punjab Wildlife & Parks Department.
Responsible Travel
Use Leave No Trace principles, carry out all rubbish, avoid disturbing wildlife and livestock, and respect private/community land.
Planning tip
Best Time to Visit, October to March.
Getting there, In Attock District, reached from Attock or Fateh Jang; check access with the Punjab Wildlife & Parks Department.
Allow, Half a day to a day.
What to Do
Nearby
Straight-line distance from Kala Chitta National Park, within 5 km.
Nothing else genuinely close by (within 5 km of Kala Chitta National Park) is published yet.
