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. Salt lakes are formed when water is retained in the river basin along with the salt and minerals. When the water evaporates, it leaves behind dissolved salts.
The salt is farmed when it reaches a specific thickness and is later refined. Although this ‘solar evaporation’ mining is done with the help of machines in some parts of the world, in Achhro the men and women living in huts close to these lakes do this by hand.