CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Makran Coastal Highway: Hingol National Park to Ormara
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 143 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 02
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Makran Coastal Highway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 25 km this is Makran Coastal Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 km
- Named road
- Makran Coastal Highway
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hingol National Park
The Hingol River reaches the Arabian Sea through one of the strangest landscapes in Pakistan, and the national park around it is the largest in the country. It covers a huge expanse of dry mountains, dunes and badlands where wind and water have carved the sandstone into towers, buttresses and needles. Two of them have nicknames that every visitor picks up: one the Princess of Hope, a profile against the sky, and the other the Sphinx. The colours range through cream, rust and pale yellow, and the light in the early morning is superb.
Read the complete Hingol National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hingol National Park is where the day begins. Next is Kund Malir.
2. Kund Malir
Kund Malir is where Pakistan's coastal desert gives you a proper beach. A long crescent of pale sand opens onto the Arabian Sea, with water that goes from pale turquoise at the edge to deep blue beyond, set against a backdrop of bare, folded hills. It is the sort of beach that photographs well and feels slightly unreal, because it is so far from anywhere and so empty. Karachi families do drive out for the day, and on a winter weekend you will find a few tents and food vendors, but on a weekday the sand is yours.
Read the complete Kund Malir write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kund Malir comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ormara.
3. Ormara
Ormara is a fishing town on a rocky headland that pokes out into the Arabian Sea, and it feels like a place the twentieth century half forgot. About thirteen thousand people live here, in low concrete houses and boat sheds strung along a sheltered bay. A navy base occupies part of the peninsula, but the heart of the town is the harbour, where wooden dhows come in with the catch and the smell of drying fish hangs in the air. A walk to the end of the jetty at dawn, with the boats unloading and gulls wheeling, is as good a morning as the road offers.
Read the complete Ormara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 143 km.
Leg by leg
Hingol National Park to Kund Malir
Hingol National Park → Kund Malir is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kund Malir to Ormara
Kund Malir → Ormara is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.