One of the earth’s most interesting natural phenomena, erupting abruptly and powerfully throwing tons of muddy brackish water out. Mud volcanoes are a mixture of water, mud, gases, a few elements, some traces of hydrocarbons, oil and some heat energy. They have a direct link to gas and oil fields and are excellent indicators to the presence of natural resources.
Also known as Sedimentary Volcanoes or Gas-Oil Volcanoes, these are not very famous, nor as devastating in action as Magmatic Volcanoes but mud volcanoes have existed since the very beginning even though their actual discoveries and studies date back only a few centuries.
More than 700 mud volcanoes have been reported around the world so far and according to Owais Mughal, the managing editor of All things Pakistan/pakistaniat.com - a website highlighting Pakistan’s beauty, there are 18 mud volcanoes located in Balochistan.
The first surviving account of their existence is by Major Frederick John Goldsmith who wrote a diary of his travels from Karachi to Gwadar in 1862 where he writes about the bubbling springs near Ras Koocheri and mud volcanoes near Ormara. There are two known groups of mud volcanoes in Balochistan, Chandargup and Jablul Ghurab. According to Owais Mughal, seven out of 18 mud volcanoes are located near Sapat post in Hingol National Park (HNP) and the remaining 11 between Kutch and Gwadar.
While conducting wildlife surveys in Babbro Kaur and Laksar Plains in the northern HNP during February 2007, a team of five members including two wildlife watchers from Balochistan Forest and Wildlife Department came across strange stories from local residents about occasional blasts followed by fire and smoke in a mud mountain known as Kundigo Kurt. The last blast was heard by locals about six months ago, not far from Babbro Kaur and Laksar Plains.
Access to the Kundigo Kurt Mountain is not easy as it lies in a mountain range where only professional hikers dare to venture. One route is from Uthal, in Lasbela District or Jhau on the RCD Highway leading to Khuzdar, branching off at Dhalli Hinj village following a dirt track to Kukree Bhent along the Ara River. The other is from Traanch valley which is even more difficult especially its part known as Dozakh (Hell). Kukree Bhent is accessible on a four wheel drive and takes about two and a half hours from Jhau on the RCD Highway. From Kukree Bhent onwards, an eight-hour camel ride along Ara Kaur upto Pishi Bhent followed by a four-hour walk by foot to reach the base of the Kundigo Kurt Mountain in the east of Ara Kaur. It takes another two hours from the base of the Kundigo Kurt Mountain to reach the top following a difficult and risky track.
After a tiresome journey of about 12 hours on camel back and by foot, we reached the base of the mountain in the evening and spent the night there. The next morning began the climb to the mountain top through various gullies and depressions. We reached the top by midday and found seven magnificent and active mud volcanoes (150m x 70m) at 460m above sea level. We took photographs, GPS coordinates and measurements of various craters. Gas bubbles rose from the mud in craters, a network of gullies, ridges and beautifully carved, deep muddy grooves extruded from the volcanoes by rain and wind erosion. We returned to our base camp in the late afternoon, tired but triumphant.
