Qila Rohtas Jehlum, Pakistan

Rohtas Fort is a 16th-century fortress located in Jehlum city in the province of Punjab during the regime of Sher Shah Suri. The nearby Gakhar tribes were strong allies of the Mughal Emperor, so they reject the suzerainty of Sher Shah Suri (The Founder of Suri Dynasty). Rohtas Fort is one of the largest and formidable fortified complexes that has survived for many centuries.

The fort had a profound influence and it has many monumental gateways and big defensive four kilometers walls in circumference. After Sher Shah Suri's death in 1545, his regime fell apart. In 1997, Rohtas Fort has declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The fort is not far away from GT Road, only 8 kilometers. One can easily go there as the road is in perfect condition.

The main purpose of Qila Rohtas to overlooking a gorge, where Kahan River meets seasonal stream within the Tilla Jogian Range. The fort covers an area of 12.63 acres, 2,660 feet above sea level and 300 meters above its surrounding. Although, Qila Rohtas was not a popular place among Mughal Emperors. Because Emperor Akbar and Jahangir stayed a single night during their expedition to Kashmir. The Durrani ruler, Ahmad Shah Durrani used Qila Rohtas during his expedition and invasion to the Sikhs regime. Timur Shah Durrani took the Rohtas Fort from Sikhs in 1780.   

Who Built Rohtas Fort?

As mentioned above, Rohtas Fort was built by Sher Shah Suri, in order to stop the Mughal Emperor Hamayun, exiled to Persia after a heavy defeat in the Battle of Kannaju. Sher Shah Suri knows the importance of the strategic location of Fort, to stop Mughal Emperor and Gakhar tribes. Later, the Fort was served as the capital of the Gakhar Tribes. Rohtas Fort walls have small Machicolations used by soldiers to observe on the inside to pour molten lead and hot liquids on soldiers trying to scale the walls.

When Was Rohtas Fort Built?

In 1541, Sher Shah Suri order to construct a solid defensive fort after the victory over Hamayun. Therefore, the Qila Rohtas was ceded to Hamayun in 1555. Until 1707 the Fort was used during the Mughal era. However, Afghan emperor Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali also utilized during the waning days of Mughal Emperor. In 1825, Gurmukh Singh conquered the Rohtas Fort from Nur Khan until British rulers collapsed the Fort.

Qila Rohtas Layout?

The fort wall varies, from ten to eighteen meters with its 10 to 13-meter thickness. The walls were constructed with ashlar stone. It has 12 gates and 68 u-shaped bastions with the best masonry work on it. Some of its famous gates are Sohail Bukhari, Shah Chandwali, Kabuli, Shishi, Langar Khani, Talaqi, Mori or Kashmiri, Khwas Khani, Gatali, Tulla Mori, Pippli, and Sar.

Moreover, the remains of Shahi Masjid are still is near the Kabuli gate. Moreover, the Rani Mahal also exists near the one storey Haveli Man Singh. The fort depicts of Masculine architecture, had no permanent building for living. Rohtas Fort is a beautiful combination of Middle Eastern, Turkish, and South Asian artistic traditions.

Calligraphy and Artwork

The stones beautifully carved on the Masjid and gate engraving in the Arabic language. One stone is magnificently carved with the word “Allah”. In the Shahi Masjid, the First Kalima is beautifully written on both sides of every arch. The Shishi gate inscribed the date of commencing in the Persian language.

Also, there are inscriptions found on Talaqi Gate, Gatali Gate, Langar Khani, and Khwas Khani gate. Moreover, plaster has been applied to Shahi Masjid. Rohtas Fort magnificent decorative elements, its high and low-relief carvings, calligraphic inscription in marble and sandstone, plaster ornaments, and glaze tiles showing the early Muslim military architecture.

Rohtas Qila still stands after several centuries to bear the seepage, torrential rains, overlooked by local government, caused some damage to few gates. However, rainwater has badly damaged its bastion and supporting walls and erosion of its foundation. Moreover, many legends believe the Rohtas Fort showing true high-level integrity and legitimacy.

Outside Langer Khani gate, a lady named Khair-un-Nisa died here, (daughter of Food Minister Qadir Bukhsh) and she was buried here, but after some time she moved to Sasaram a city in the Bahar State of India.  There is a Gurudwara Chowa located outside the Talaqi Gate.

Distance from Lahore and Islamabad?

From Islamabad, almost 110 kilometers travel on GT Road to a small city of Dina. Moreover, from Lahore Rohtas Fort is 217 kilometers, and it took 4 hours and 15 drive on GT road. When you reached Dina, keep looking at the display board of Fort, giving directions of 8km, which leads to Qila Rohtas.

This road is an excellent condition, so you won’t have any problems. Rohtas Fort is now a popular tourist place, which should be developed a little more for the visitors. Some tuck shops are available there to have snacks, water, and cold drinks. Moreover, you can explore Mangla Dam and Pabbi National Park on a day trip along with Rohtas Qila.

Keti Bunder – A Wildlife Sanctuary at Thatha, Sindh

Keti Bunder is part of Indus Delta and situated at Thatha district, Sindh, Pakistan. The diversity of avian dominance and diversity of Keti Bunder; carried out at dawn and dusk in the winter season. Keti Bunder is situated at the mouth of the River Indus recognized as Ochito, which is entering through Hajamro creek consisting of an area of 9,130 hectares.

The mangrove forests are key forest and ecological features of this region. These mangroves covering an area of 2,631ha with the large size of 1996 ha. However, the medium size is about 3,588 ha with sparsely distributed. The remaining part consists of human settlements, Sand dunes, and water channels.

The area is consisting of a large number of channels on the western and the eastern sides. Whereas, on the other two sides are shallow and deep-water channels namely Hajamro Creek, Khobar Creek, Dabbo Creek, and Qalandri Creek.

Keti Bunder consists of 195 villages with the estimated population of the whole is about 27,405 and the number of households is more than 4,000. These towns are widely distributed in 35 acres area around the seawater. In a survey, around 49 winter season bird species belonging to 33 genera and 21 families were recorded. A total of 4280 birds were recorded dedicated survey effort from the Keti Bunder.

The most abundant species in this area are little egret, cattle egret, greater flamingo, greater egret, and common coot. The beautiful bird species number is decreasing with the passage of time due to anthropogenic impacts especially pollution impact.

The exponential growth of the population of humans has badly impacted the avian species in many ways such as; habitat loss, deforestation, invasive species, agriculture intensification, urbanization, industrialization, human-avian negative interactions, and climate change.

Almost, 90% of people are engaged with the fish industry. These fishermen are with different casts present in the area. The Syed and Memon communities are said to be well-reputed in terms of socioeconomic status, while the majority of them have a small business with agriculture land. The people are involved in fisheries in different ways as; fishermen, boat owners, boat captain, helpers in factories, transporters, merchant shops and drivers of fish carrier vehicles.

Keti Bunder is a Wildlife Sanctuary; for the conservation of water birds. The winter visitor and summer breeder’s birds are herons, egrets, waders, pelicans and raptors. Common terrestrial mammals are fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrrinus), Indian wild boar (Sus scrofa), Asiatic jackal (Canis aureus) and Indian porcupine (Manis crassicaudatus).

The most common reptiles are sea snakes, vipers, cobras and lizards. For the identification of avian species was a wildlife sanctuary, 2nd was Keti Bunder port and the remaining two were rural areas of the habitats. Each place visited for four months. Once in each month and twice a day at dawn and dusk.

Only one bird watcher moves from one place to another through ship or boat to measure bird diversity. The species of birds in the winter season from Head Qadirabad, Punjab. The freshwater areas of Pakistan have a high species number as compared to coastal areas of Pakistan. The freshwater landscapes have higher and unique nesting, roosting, feeding, shelter and breeding sites as compared with coastal areas.

However, the other reason is that industrial wastes, pesticides, household wastes are dumped in all rivers that polluted rivers water is entered in coastal water from all over the rivers of Pakistan. The anthropogenic impacts like deforestation, land degradation, agriculture use, shipping, high rate of fishing, urbanization, fertilizers and pesticide use, and ethno-avian use the main causes of species depletion.

The species number is getting low while the population of the bird is higher as compared with freshwater birds. The reason is that homogeneity in the landscape in the coastal area e.g. only mangrove plantation is present while freshwater landscapes have heterogeneity in landscapes, i.e., grasses, herbs, shrubs, and tree plantation.

It is concluded that bird species number is decreasing with the passage of time and noted that freshwater birds’ diversity is higher than coastal birds’ species. The reason is that pollution rat is increasing day by day in coastal areas of Pakistan. But it is also noted that less heterogeneity of landscape of the coastal area of Pakistan as compared with the freshwater landscape.

Read More -

1. Lulusar Lake – Unspoiled Gem in High Mountains Peaks
2. Mahodand Lake – Unimaginable Natural Beauty
3. Saifullah Lake – A Gem lies at Foothills of Hindu Kush Mountains

Affiliates Links:

1. How One Woman Discovered the Female Fat-Loss Code Missed by Modern Medicine And Lost 84lbs Using a Simple 2-Step Ritual That 100% Guarantees Shocking Daily Weight Loss
2. 60 Seconds Habit ! That Reversed Type 2 Diabetes and Melted 56 lbs of Fat
3. Boost Your Energy, Immune System, Sexual Function, Strength & Athletic Performance
4. Diabetes Remedy # 1 Mega Offer for 2019

Mahodand Lake, Swat Kalam, KPK, Pakistan

If you are undecided where to go in Pakistan? Then we suggest you get your luggage ready and take the route to Kalam. The ultimate abundance of unimaginable natural beauty is awaiting you. The high rises peak feast your eyes wide open to see the small streams and waterfalls along with Swat River running between dense forest.

Then park your car at Kalam valley and hire a private jeep to route your way to Mahodand Lake. Make sure, you must get ready 7:00am sharp as you have to cover approximately six destination on the way to Lake. You can spend half an hour at every place to feel the real beauty of Kalam valley. These points are Ushu Forest, Mahi Banal, Matiltan, Shaudur Waterfall, Chasma-e-Shifa, Mahodand Lake and Saifullah Lake. Ask your driver to drive jeep carefully, as this is the mountain road with hairpin curves, dangerous drop-offs and pretty narrow.

The gorgeous crystal-clear lake is about 40 KM from Kalam in the Ushu Valley of the Swat District, KPK, (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) at an elevation of 9,400 feet. Mahodand lake banks are beautifully covered by high rise pines and pastures that serve as a camping site during the summer. The Lake is fed by melting glaciers and springs of the Hindu Kush mountain and gives rise to Ushu forest the major left tributary of the Swat River. Mahodand Lake is famous as “Lake of Fishes”.

Brown and rainbow trout fish is commonly found in the lake. The emerald green color water is divided into a series of small and large streams.  The locals are doing over-fishing for daily income, which is badly hurting the fish population. They also use illegal fishing methods like electrocution, dynamiting, and large nets. Mahodand lake is mainly reachable in summer season, however access is limited in winter. The lake is mainly covered with thick snow which caused high risk of avalanches.

Mahodand Lake basin is surrounded by a sheet of alpine flowers like geum, blue poppy, potentilla and gentian. Many stunning waterfalls reinforce the sweetness of the vale with different lengths and sizes. When crystal clear water comes down, you will feel like a milk coming down from rock mountains with cracking sound. The weather is quite pleasant in summer, so it is better to have some warm clothes for your children for any emergency. The temperature is cold if there is rain.

Hence, the gravel and tricky bumpy road in not paved, but surrounding are truly amazing. Visitors are facilitating in tent to enjoy the lush green valley. Each view is unique of emerald green field along the lake. People enjoy here boating, camping, horse riding, birdwatching, relaxing, nature, and many more. Also, you must take your power bank, to charge your phone battery. At every point, you would like to take snaps or selfies. So, phone charging is very essential to be full before your journey starts. Indeed, Mahodand Lake is a gift of nature who loves nature. The majestic landscape covers high rise cedar trees, exotic flowers, herbs, and roaring river swat.
Read More – Ansoo Lake – The Shape Resembles to Teardrop of Human Eye

Saifullah Lake - Swat, KPK Pakistan

Saifullah Lake is just behind famous Mahodand Lake is a mesmerizing lake located in the upper Usho Matiltan Valley about 41 km from Kalam, Swat District, KPK, Pakistan. Saifullah Jaheel is perched amidst the glacial alpine hills, emerald green water, attracts nature enthusiasts from across the country. 

The lake is accessible by a four-wheel drive vehicle, and is often utilized for fishing and boating. During the winter season, Saifullah Lake freezes and covered with heavy snow. However, the best time to go there is in June and July, when alpine flowers like geum, blue poppy, potentilla, and gentian blooms all part of the wild area.

The Saifullah Lake lies at the foothills of Hindu Kush Mountains at an elevation 9,400 ft. The lake is fed by melting glaciers and springs of the Hindu Kush Mountain and gives rise to Ushu Khwar, the major left tributary of the Swat River. The lake is famous for its freeing water and trout fish. That is one of most expensive fish in that area, selling around Rs. 4000 kg in nearby restaurant. The visitors feast their eyes with lush green sceneries, meadows, clumps of alpine and cedar trees and snow capped mountains.   

If you are nature lover, then this is the ideal place for camping for a night. The majestic water noise brooks gushing out of the small vale nearby Saifullah Lake. The area is more embellished by pink and yellow flowers. You would definitely enjoy the tranquility and wild beauty of the plants & birds sounds. It is one of most beautiful lake in the country. 

Moreover, one can also enjoy boating and horse rides at the lake. The Lake water are divided into a series of small and large streams, which once swarmed with brown and rainbow trout introduced by the former ruler of Swat State. But the most difficult part is to reach there. Hence, at Kalam valley, you have to hire a jeep or fielder (Japanese Car) to find your way to the bumpy and rough road. 

The drivers are normally extra charging for the full day tour with you. The tourism can boost by construction of proper road that suits to every car and vehicle. But so far, that area is neglected by government. Source: CP