G’day Folks and Folkettes! Hope you’re doing well this fine day. Today’s post continues on from last Sunday’s post where I was in the Pakistani city of Bahawalpur. The first full day I had there I took one of my two day trips to the Cholistan Desert, a stretch of Southern Pakistani Punjab that lies between Bahawalpur (where you may recall I was staying) and the border with India. The main attraction is probably the Derawar Fort in the remote town of Derawar, next to which is a mosque and not so far away is a graveyard/tombs of the Nawab Family who used to rule the region in the time of the British Raj.

Just being in the desert of course is a bit of a thrill and the thrill factor is seriously ramped up when you arrive and discover you are there at the same time as the Cholistan Desert Rally! So I had warning before I went there from a friend in the know that the Desert Rally would be on and actually I had advice to forego the visit to Cholistan as the traffic would be so bad it wouldn’t be worth it.

As it was I asked at the hotel for a tour guide firstly and they hooked me up with Umair who was my guide for both days and both day trips from Bahawalpur. I asked if it was still worth going into the desert and I was told it was, and Umair chose to do the tour of Cholistan on the first day rather than the second as I was planning due to the likeliness of less traffic on that day. As it turned out, I can’t really judge how much traffic there was as to what there would have been on a ‘normal’ day, but there was a fair bit of traffic without it making much of a difference in how long it took to get there and back. And as a big plus, although they weren’t running any events that day, I did get the chance to experience the rally a bit which was kind of cool.

The total drive was around 100km one way to Derawar, passing the rally and visiting on the way there. We took the road through Ahmedpur East from Bahawalpur, and generally the roads were in decent condition although there were only multi-lane options between Bahawalpur and Ahmedpur East. It was pretty cool to see some of the vehicles on the road moving long sugar cane sticks, on bike and horse and cart, or indeed on these giant semi-trailer lorries as well. Total time each way was around 2 hours.

Once out of Ahmedpur East we saw the landscape, which was already pretty dry, turn into proper desert. And we would see the occasional vehicle headed to or from the rally. Not far from the town of Derawar, we hit the rally. Well, we turned off where you could see the activity of the rally. There was some sort of makeshift arena and we zoomed past it.

It was desert but it was a hardened surface, presumably it was all underwater many centuries ago. But on this day it was full of jeeps and people and even light planes! We drove across the desert to an area where jeeps were getting tested as gliders zoomed over us. People also flew drones here and there.

We pulled up and watched for a while as jeeps zoomed up one way and back the other, testing their vehicles presumably for races next day. Motor bikes zipped around doing their thing too. And also there were photocalls for the drivers, a couple posing with a woman who I guess was the Pakistani answer to ‘grid girls’. It was a cool place to be for an hour or so. We drove past the motorized gliders who were I guess offering joy flights to those who wanted. There was a buzz in the air, such a different experience for me.

From there we drove to the small, dusty town of Derawar gawking at the MASSIVE Derawar Fort from afar as we entered the town. The town itself was super busy with visitors. We parked the car and made our way to the fort, which was sadly closed for the duration of the rally. Which is a bit counter-intuitive I guess the one chance for it to be open to a host of visitors. But then in regards to its preservation…

The Derawar Fort though is impressive enough from the outside, built in the 9^th century and used in the 18^th by the aforementioned Nawab family. To get an idea of how big the place – the walls are up to 1500 metres long and the walls are up to 30 metres high. It’s flippin’ BIG. And when I was standing outside the entrance, the place was busy considering no-one could come in. I was interviewed by a dude who said he worked for DW about the rally.

Then we have the mosque, very close to the fort. Built by the Nawab family in 1849 it apparently holds 10,000 worshippers, which is a surprising fact. Its not a small mosque by any stretch of the imagination but I will say that that number is still surprisingly high. I visited during prayer time which is not when I prefer to visit a place of worship, but Umair walked me in and we were in the open air area and we moved to the back, where in fact there were some good views of Derawar and we could see across to our final stop for the day, the Graveyard of the Nawab Family.

Yes they have their own graveyard, with tombs and shrines where family members have been buried from the days of their rule until I guess after the Partition. And apparently it is still run/looked after by surviving family members. Here the pictures tell more than words ever could. Beautiful shrines and a building with a number of graves too. Quite a special place with domes and mosaic work such that might be seen in Uzbekistan or Iran.

From there we drove back to Hotel One Bahawalpur. It had been a hot day and a rewarding one. The next day would see me to return to the shrines at Uch Shariff, the one thing more than any I wanted to see again in Pakistan. But that’s another post!

Thanks for reading today. If it interests you check out the video I shot when there. There will be a special Cholistan Desert video later in the year. So keep an eye out for that if this is something for you! Take care wherever you are in the word – May the Journey Never End!