Pakistan has an ancient fort hidden deep in rural Sindh that very few tourists ever make it to.
In this video, I travel deep into rural Sindh, Pakistan, to explore Kot Diji Fort and the ancient archaeological site that sits beneath it. The journey itself is part of the experience, taking us through rural villages, farmland, irrigation canals and date-palm plantations before we finally reach the enormous fort overlooking Kot Diji.
00:00 Rural Sindh
05:44 Sindhi restaurant
10:41 Kot Diji Fort
12:20 History & Defences
18:27 Water & Food Storage
20:39 5,500-Year-Old Kot Diji Settlement
28:03 Royal Rooms, Treasury & Life
31:31 Why We Needed a Police Escort
Along the way, we stop at a traditional roadside dhaba for chai, where you can see how food is cooked in a wood-fired tandoor, how milk tea is prepared with tea, sugar and gur (jaggery), and how these roadside stops form an important part of everyday life in Pakistan. We also meet local Sindhi people wearing the traditional Sindhi topi and Ajrak.
The ancient Kot Diji site
The history here goes back far beyond the fort itself.
The Kot Diji archaeological mound is associated with an ancient settlement that predates Mohenjo-daro. In the video, my guide explains how Kot Diji fits into the wider story of the Indus Valley Civilisation, alongside sites such as Mehrgarh, Amri, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.
The ancient Kot Diji settlement dates back around 5,500 years, making it roughly 500 years older than Mohenjo-daro. We discuss how these early settlements developed over time and how Mohenjo-daro later became one of the most sophisticated cities of the Indus Civilisation, famous for features including its drainage system, public facilities and planned urban layout.
We also talk about Mehrgarh in Balochistan, which dates back even further, to around 7,000 years ago, and the archaeological discoveries made there, including pottery, seals, stamps and figurines.
Kot Diji Fort
The fort you see today is much newer than the ancient settlement.
Kot Diji Fort was built by the Talpur rulers, with construction beginning in 1785 and being completed in 1795. It took around ten years to construct and was built high above the surrounding landscape, giving it an enormous strategic advantage.
The fort has multiple defensive gates, including three large gates designed to make it difficult for attackers, along with iron spikes intended to prevent elephants from being used to break through the entrance.
Inside, we explore the fort's enormous walls, watchtowers, soldiers' quarters, storage areas, cannons, archery slits and defensive positions. From the top, you can see the contrast between the fertile lands around the Indus and the desert landscape towards the Thar.
We also discover some of the fort's more unexpected features, including its old water-storage system, underground areas, food storage, oil-lamp storage, royal rooms, kitchen, guest rooms, prison and training areas.
The Talpur royal family still has a connection to the region, and my guide explains how members of the family stay at Kot Diji during Muharram and otherwise live at Faiz Mahal in Khairpur.
There are also surviving decorative details inside the fort, including old painted designs, while the construction itself gives an insight into how forts were built before modern cement, using traditional lime mortar.
Why the police came with us
Towards the end of the video, the local police join us and escort us as we continue north towards Sukkur.
My guide explains why police escorts are sometimes provided to foreign visitors travelling through northern Sindh. The security situation can vary between different parts of Pakistan, and northern Sindh and Balochistan can require additional security arrangements for foreign travellers.
Despite the police escort, the officers who accompany us are extremely friendly, and they explain that their job is simply to help ensure that foreign visitors can complete their journey safely.
This is a part of travelling through Sindh that you don't normally see in tourist videos, so I wanted to include it as part of the experience.
For guided tours of Mohenjo-daro or Kot Diji, you can contact Irshad directly on WhatsApp: +92 0336 3417 549.
Watch my other videos from Sindh, including my tours of Mohenjo-daro, Makli Necropolis and the Chaukhandi Tombs.
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