The Hingol mud volcanoes and Chandragup

Cones of cold mud on the Makran coast, and a pilgrims’ stop on the road to Hinglaj

Some ten clusters of mud volcanoes in Hingol National Park, the largest national park in Pakistan, about 100 km from Uthal in Lasbela District, Balochistan. The most important are Chandragup and Khandewari. The Chandragup complex is three main cones, Chandragup 1, 2 and 3, with smaller ones around them, and one of them stands 300 feet high, an active mud volcano pushing up grey mud from below. They lie about a kilometre off the Makran Coastal Highway between Lasbela and Gwadar; an SSGC installation is the landmark, and local people will show the way to the exact spot. Chandragup, also called Chandrakup, is holy to Hindus and an important stop for pilgrims on their annual way to the temple of Hinglaj Mata nearby. Devotees throw coconuts into the craters to make wishes and to thank the gods for prayers answered. The park around them covers about 6,100 square kilometres along the Arabian Sea, named for the Hingol River, which runs through it to an estuary full of waterfowl, turtles, mangroves and crocodiles. Tread carefully near the craters.