Lehri Nature Reserve

Some thirty kilometres northwest of Jhelum and just off the Grand Trunk Road lies a protected parkland spread over 17,000 acres of broken hills, stark rock faces and deep gullies. Naturally covered with phulai (Acacia modesta), sanatha (Dodonea viscosa) and wild olive, this chunk of land belongs to the Lehri and Jindi Reserve Forest. It is today known as Lehri Nature Reserve.

Being an offshoot of the semi-arid Salt Range, Lehri is a fragile eco-system because of scant subsoil water and depends largely on seasonal rains. Consequently, the wildlife that the area harbours has but a precarious foothold. This fact, however, did not stop rapacious and well-connected people to plunder the meagre natural resources of this reserve forest. By the middle 1980s the Lehri-Jindi complex was a moribund eco-system and it was very fortunate that it caught the official eye. With the idea of developing it to resemble the Lake District of northern England, work began on Lehri Nature Reserve in 1986. Some of the several seasonal streams that cut across the forest were dammed to form bodies of water and in times of good rains there are over three dozen ponds of various sizes. Two of these are large enough to be called lakes.

With grazing and timber collection restricted, the depleted forest made a quick recovery which was helped along by additional plantation of indigenous species. In a fit of misguided enthusiasm, the forest department also did not desist from planting large numbers of the fast-growing eucalyptus. Shortly thereafter good sense prevailed and this alien, water-guzzling tree was banned in 1991.

In order to protect the native Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis), two chain link enclosures of five hundred acres each were constructed and stocked with this species. Not long after the establishment of the reserve, funding dried up and the first thing to suffer was maintenance. Seasonal floods broke the fencing in some places and the urial escaped into the wild. This was perhaps just as well for the dispersion of the ungulates in the wild gorges of the reserve resulted in an increase of another natural inhabitant: the wolf. Patient observation today shows that area is now fairly rich with pangolins (scaly anteater) foxes, jackals and the handsome but shy leopard cat as well. Seesee, grey partridges and chukor are also to be found in the glens of Lehri. As well as that, there are six dozen other species of migratory and resident birds.

Designated walkways in the forest afford the naturalist and the birdwatcher to observe nature at close quarters. It is advisable, however, to take a forest department guide before venturing out. A lodge in the forest offers reasonable overnight accommodation and cooking facility for visitors. Bookings for the lodge can be made at the office of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) at Jhelum, phone number 0541 927 0031.