Educational Camp Quetta and Ziyarat – Day 3
Day 3 Tuesday 20th September ((17th Shaban ul Kareem))
On the morning of 20th Sept students were all excited and ready in their uniforms to proceed to GSP Museum, which has a collection of over 7,580 invaluable geological and paleontological specimens. Sir Asif Rana received us. He briefed the students about the seven galleries of the museums with the help of OHP. There are seven thematic galleries in
GSP.
1. Rocks and Minerals Gallery
2. Baluchistan Economic Minerals Gallery
3. Building Materials Gallery
4. Gemstone Gallery
5. Astrological Gallery
6. Vertebrate Paleontology Gallery
7. Invertebrate Paleontology Gallery
The GSP has the largest collection of millions of years old fossils discovered in Pakistan. The Vertebrate Paleontology gallery has an exhibit of dinosaur’s fossil, which is 65 million years old, fossil of walking whale 47 million years old, fossil of Bugtitherium, which is the largest mammal to live on earth, and fossil of a huge elephant from Jurassic age. The invertebrate paleontology gallery has a huge collection of millions of years old ammonites and plant fossils including petrified wood. In Gemstone gallery students were excited to see gems, precious stones and minerals in their raw form. In Astrological gallery a rare collection of meteors found from Pakistan was exhibited. The students had a great time collecting and noting down all this interesting information. After visiting all the galleries, which took about three hours, the students gathered and had a brief QA session with Sir Asif. At the end he distributed the museum brochure and a pencil among students as a souvenir. Students and teachers thanked him for the invaluable knowledge, which he shared with us. After a group photo outside the museum building we returned to the Boys Scout Headquarter. Our bags were packed and we were ready to leave for Ziarat.
After having lunch we started off at 3:30 pm. The journey from Quetta to Ziarat is about three and a half hours. On the way we observed various interesting physical features. We also observed many apple orchards, karez, small villages, nomadic life and herds of sheep and goats. It was hot and dry in Quetta at daytime and the nights and mornings were cool and pleasant. But as we moved towards higher altitude the climate changed dramatically. The sky was clear when we left Quetta but soon clouds started to gather and the moment we reached Ziarat it started drizzling. It was very chilly and all the blankets, sweaters and cardigans were out from the bags in a jiffy. Our accommodation in Ziarat was in Sadaqat Rest House. Apart from well-furnished, comfortable rooms it boasted of a small beautiful garden surrounded by plants bearing seasonal colourful flowers. While dinner was being prepared students played throw ball and after having dinner and Tilwat ul Qasida we all went to sleep.
