Places to Go

Some 63km south of Mirpur Khas, Naukot town lies at the edge of the desert. Another 3km on the road to Mithi an awe-inspiring fort attracts the eye in the wilderness. It is said to have been constructed by Mir Karam Ali Khan in 1814 to consolidate his power in the desert and to subdue the Than and make effective and forceful arrangements to collect dhal, revenue.

The fort is a small one but beautiful. It is built of burnt-bricks in mud mortar and measures about 1 13m in length and 98m in width. Another squarish construction on the southern side of the fort, measuring 15m x 13m has in it the only entrance and narrow access to the interior of the fort. All the walls and bastions give tapering look. The narrow entrance is approached through a crooked passage formed by two heavy and semi-circular bastions. The bastion close to the doorway, and making a part of the squarish construction, is about 9.5m high with a diameter of about 42m at the base. The arched entrance is around 7m in height and about 4m in width. The approach to the interior of the fort is through causeway type hall and room, which make part of the squarish construction, itself a fortress.

The fort has nine semi-circular bastions, two of them guarding the main entrance, four at the corners and one each in the middle of the northern, southern and western walls. A 4m wide wall runs on the four sides of the fort. It has two burnt-brick stairs to climb the wall top, from the interior of the fort. Inside the fort there are a few remains of rooms etc., which may go to suggest that these were the residential quarters. A small construction like a dungeon could have been the barood khana, or the place to store ammunition. The water seems to have been easily accessible by digging wells inside the fort. Even now a hand-pump serves the visitors well.

There’s usually one person inside the fort who’ll show you around. On entering you’ll see the residential area, with rooms of the King/Mir and family. There are also barracks down here. On left is a big courtyard, with a 2-3 rooms scattered around, in bad shape, and few combined ones on extreme right, with bricks falling from them. The view from top is amazing and gives a wide view of the whole desert and the few houses around the fort. A Must see for fort-lovers.

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