Taunsa Barrage

The Taunsa Barrage is one of the major barrages on the Indus River, built in 1958 to divert irrigation water across the arid plains of Dera Ghazi Khan district. It controls the flow of the Indus and has transformed agricultural productivity in the region, providing water for hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland across southern Punjab.

Beyond its engineering significance, the barrage is notable as one of the best places in Pakistan to see the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor), a critically endangered species found only in the lower Indus. The calmer, shallower waters created upstream of the barrage provide ideal habitat, and boat trips on the river offer genuine chances of sightings — particularly in the early morning. Local boatmen can be hired at the barrage for this purpose. The area also attracts waterbirds, and the wetland ecosystems around the barrage support significant biodiversity.

things to do sight
A story
The Taunsa Barrage was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1996, one of only a handful of engineered water structures in the world to receive this designation. The reason is the Indus river dolphin — a nearly blind species that navigates entirely by sonar — which lives in the waters below the barrage in one of its last remaining strongholds.