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Hyderabad, 164 km north of Karachi the second
largest city in Sindh and one of the largest in
Pakistan. Hyderabad is five km from the eastern
bank of the Indus changed its course away from
Khudabad, at that time the capital of the
region, the new capital was shifted to
Hyderabad. In 1766 the Kalhora ruler constructed
a fort half a square km in area and it still
stands today. In 1843 the British arrived and
defeated the Talpurs, completing their conquest
of Sindh.
In the old city, buildings are topped by
badgers that look like chimneys on roof tops.
They catch the cool breezes which blow steadily
in a south-west direction for 40 days from late
April each year. Hyderabad is hot for most of
the year, although in autumn and winter the
temperature dips down to around 24 C . In the
old sections of the town, cows still roam the
streets giving it a distinctly mediaeval
atmosphere.
On the northern side of the hill on which
Hyderabad is sited there are tombs from the
Talpur and Kalhora periods. The tomb of Ghulam
Shah Kalhora is one of the finest, although its
dome collapsed and has now been replaced by a
flat roof.
Also worth a visit is the Institute of
Sindhology's museum at the University of Sindh.
It has displays on all aspects of Sindhi
history, music and culture depicting the
lifestyles of the desert tribes. Infrequent GTS
buses go to the campus, otherwise take a
miniwagon to Jumshero, across the river from
Hyderabad, and walk the 1-1/2
km to the university.
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This park may be visited for recreation
education or research but shooting is forbidden.
A four hour drive north- east from Karachi, of
the Super Highway (for 4 WD vehicles only) takes
the visitor deep into the heart of Kirthar
National Park, again preserve measuring over
3,000 square kilometers in the Kirthar hills and
a good destination for 3 day trip if the bandits
are brought under control. October to February
is the most comfortable...that is,
coolest...time to go but the flowers bloom
during the (relatively) wet monsoon in August.
Five furnished rest house with cooking
facilities and running water are situated on the
edge of a wide valley in the centre of the park
at Karchat. They are book able through the Sindh
Wildlife Management Board, which also hires out
tents to those wish to camp. Some food is
available if ordered well in advance, but it is
better to take your own food, drink and bedding.
The rolling valleys and contorted, rugged
lines of the Kirthar hills form a natural haven
for Urial sheep, ibex and chinkara gazelle.
Jungle cats, desert cats and even the occasional
leopard or desert wolf also prowl the park, but
you would be extreme lucky to see them.
Pangolins (scaly anteaters), porcupines and
monitor lizards are more in evidence.
Other attractions in the park are 18th
century Chaukundi style tombs at Taung and
pre-historic archaeological remains at Koh
Tarash. The enormous Rani Kot Fort is also
within the park, two hours by jeep from Karchat.
Rani Kot is about four hours from Karachi via
the Super Highway and Indus Highway.
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At Moenjodaro (Mound of dead) in the west
bank of the Indus in Sindh have been found the
remains of one of the earliest and a most
developed urban civilizations of the ancient
world. Discovered in 1922 Moenjodaro once
metropolis of great importance forming part of
the Indus Valley Civilization. Moenjodaro 4,000
years old brick ruins of the Indus Valley
Civilization city of Moenjodaro.
The Indus Valley Civilization flourished from
3,000 to 15,00 BC, making it contemporary with
the ancient civilization of Egypt and
Mesopotamia. At its height, it comprised at
least 400 cities and towns along the Indus and
its tributaries, covering most of the
present-day Pakistan and stretching north-west
as far as modern Kabul and east as far as modern
Delhi. The water ways were the main highways
connecting the empire, and flat bottomed barges
almost identical to those still use today plied
the rivers from city to city. Few of the cities
have been excavated.
The most imposing remains are those of the
great bath which consisted of an open quadrangle
with verandahs on four sides, galleries and
rooms at the back, a group of halls on the north
and a large bathing pool. It was probably used
for religious or ceremonial bathing. Nearby are
the remains of the great granary, possible
public treasury where taxes were paid in kind.
Testifying to the high developed and artistic
sensibility of the Moenjodaro people is
discovery of necklaces pendants of beads ear
rings and anklets of ivory and mother-of-pearl,
vessels of silver, copper and browns and
polished stones weights and measures which
suggest the existence of strangest civic
regulations.
From coins and poetries discovered,
archaeologists believe trade and cultural links
existed between Moenjodaro and the contemporary
civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Various
objects d'art found at Moenjodaro include burnt
clay male and female figurines, and models of
the bird, steatite bust of a noble man or a
priest- king, wearing a loose robe on which the
trefoil pattern is engraved and small dancing
girls in the browns with slim figures and flat
Negroid features. Figural art is best
illustrated by steatite seals bearing life like
representations of animals and mythological
creates such as is the unicorn. The ruins of
this Indus Valley Civilization face eminent
danger from the rising water tables and
salinity. Government of Pakistan in cooperation
with UNESCO is making all possible efforts to
avert this danger and save Moenjodaro.
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Kot Diji site is 25 kms (15 miles) south of
Khairpur town in the Khairpur District of Sindh.
Archaeologists say that the discovery of this
pre-historic site has furnished information of
high significance since it pushed back the
pre-history of Pakistan by at least an other 300
years from about 2,500 BC to 2,800 BC. Evidence
of new cultural element of pre-Harappan and pre-Moenjodaro
date has been found at Kot Diji. The excavations
there have proved that the Indus Valley
Civilizations people borrowed or developed some
of the basic cultural elements of the Kot
Dijians. The site consists of two parts: one
comprising the citadel area on the high ground
where the ruling elite lived and outer area
inhabited by the common man. The Kot Diji
culture is marked by well- furnished well-made
pottery and houses built of mud-bricks on stone
foundations. In fact, the Kot Dijian ceramics
through different in form and technique are no
way less artistic then the sophisticated
back-on-red pottery of Harappans.
The Harappans borrowed some of the basic
cultural elements from Kot Diji. The Harappan
decorated designs such as the "fish scale "
intersecting circles and the pipal leaf pattern
were evolved from the Kot Dijian decorated
elements like the horizontal and wavy lines,
loops and simple triangular patterns. There is a
no proof yet of the place or the regions from
where the Kot Dijians arrived in the Indus
Valley. Kot Diji situated between Ranipur and
Khairpur on the highway from Hyderabad, on the
east bank of the Indus close to Rohri. Worth
site trip.
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North of Larkana the landscape becomes
luxuriant, and in Sukkur the railway line and
the highway split up, with a road and rail
tracks leading north-west to Quetta via Sibi and
Jacobabad, while another highway and railway
line go via Rahimyar Khan and Sadiqabad straight
to Multan. Sukkur is a sprawling town, with
beautiful mosques, gardens, shrines and
madrazhis (Muslim religious schools). A desert
oasis town, similar to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan,
it also boasts many havelis, however, unlike
those of Jaisalmer, the Sukkur variety are
decorated with geometric, floral designs and
painted in a variety of bright, contrasting
colors. Just across the Indus is Rohri, also
fairly prosperous and an important rail and road
junction.
The two towns, 5 km apart and 544 km north of
Karachi are linked by the Landsdowne and Ayub
bridges, which are extremely beautiful. There is
a medieval mosque with porcelain-tiled walls,
and eight km away are remains of the ancient
city of Aror where Alexander the Great is said
to have camped.
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Sindh : Karachi - Thatta
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