LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — The Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab has opened a riverside resort at Taunsa Barrage near Kot Addu, built so that visitors can watch the endangered Indus river dolphin, one of the rarest mammals in the world, from the bank of the river where it lives.
The TDCP Dolphin Resort covers 120 kanals along the Indus and offers rooms, dining and terraces looking out over the water, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said as she announced its opening. “Imagine sipping your morning tea while watching the rare blind Indus dolphin leap through the river waves,” she wrote, describing it as an eco-friendly getaway that brings hospitality and wildlife conservation together.
Why Taunsa: the stretch of the Indus around the barrage has been a protected area for the dolphin for decades, and fishing is banned in its buffer zone. The animal, known locally as the bhulan, lives only in the Indus river system. It is almost blind and finds its way and its food in the silty water by sound, surfacing briefly to breathe. Punjab’s population is estimated at around 660, and in June the province declared a second sanctuary, covering about 198 kilometres of the river from Jampur to Guddu Barrage.
Before you go: Taunsa Barrage lies on the Indus between Kot Addu in Muzaffargarh district and Taunsa in Dera Ghazi Khan, within reach of Multan by road. Room rates and booking details for the new resort had not been published by Saturday, so check with the tourism corporation before setting off. Dolphins surface only for a moment, so it is worth bringing patience, and binoculars if you have them. Visitors should keep their distance, stay on the bank and never throw food or rubbish into the river.
The dolphin’s survival still depends on the river itself. Animals are regularly stranded in canals when water levels drop, as one was near Dera Ghazi Khan after this year’s floods. For conservationists, a resort that turns the bhulan into a reason to visit, and gives local people a stake in keeping it alive, is a welcome addition to the fight to save it.
