At the edge of the city, beside a murky lake, sits the shrine of Pir Mangho — a Sufi saint whose blessing is said to extend to the roughly one hundred mugger crocodiles that live in the water around it. The crocodiles are fed, named, and considered sacred; harming one would be unthinkable. Pilgrims come to pray at the saint's tomb and to hand-feed goat meat to the reptiles, which lumber out of the water with the unhurried confidence of creatures that have never been threatened.
It is a genuinely strange place, and all the more compelling for it. The atmosphere is devotional rather than touristy: incense, qawwali music drifting from a speaker somewhere, women in bright clothes pressing against the shrine grilles. The crocodiles seem almost incidental to the human activity around them, yet everything revolves around their presence. Dress modestly, remove shoes when entering the shrine building, and ask before photographing worshippers.