Pakistan - Derawar and the Desert Forts of Cholistan

The Cholistan desert, or Rohi, is the western part of the Thar desert of the sub-continent which lies in modern Pakistan. There is archaeological evidence that this area was once watered by the Hakra river and was home to an Indus Valley culture based on agriculture. This river, the bed of which can be seen clearly etched into the desert landscape, supported settlements from ca. 4000 BC until around 600 B.C. when the river changed its flow and subsequently vanished underground. Since then the Cholistan area has been a stark and inhospitable desert environment at the edge of empires.