Sindh’s Achhro Thar desert is known for its beautiful landscape of sand dunes and lakes.
Spread across 23,000 square kilometres, the saline ‘white desert’ named after its natural white sand only produces enough green vegetation to sustain a small amount of livestock. For this reason, its residents are dependent on the eight salt producing lakes in Achhro for a living.
The Indus ecoregion is home to a number of salt lakes, such as Mudaker, Busriyo, Kharorr, Sanhrri, Banddhi Wari, Senhari and Pani Wari. After a heavy downpour, the lakes fill up with water and the salt appears on the surface.
In Khipro Sanghar, there are eight small and large salt lakes where thousands of tons of salt are harvested daily. This salt is then exported to various countries, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and others.
The primary source of income for the people here is harvesting salt and selling it in the local market.The workers here say that if they are provided with facilities, they can export a large quantity of salt worldwide