Cholistan Desert

The Cholistan Desert sprawls south and east of Khanpur, the Pakistani extension of the Thar Desert that runs into India. It is Pakistan's largest desert and one of its emptiest landscapes — pale sand dunes, salt pans, scattered acacia, and the long line of ruined Bahawalpur forts that marked the wells of the medieval caravan routes.

The desert is at its most accessible in the cool months from November to February. Annual events worth timing a trip around include the February Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally — a 500-kilometre off-road race that brings drivers from across South Asia — and the camel-herding semi-nomadic Rohi people who still live in the central desert. Tours are available from Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan; independent travel requires a 4WD and ideally a local guide.

things to do sight desert nature
A story
The Hakra River, the long-dry channel that bisects Cholistan from north-east to south-west, is the same river known further upstream as the Ghaggar and identified by some scholars with the lost Sarasvati of the Rig Veda. When it flowed, the desert was farmland — recent archaeology has identified hundreds of Indus Valley Civilisation sites along its course. When it dried out, around 1500 BC, the civilisation that depended on it collapsed.