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Wildlife Sanctuaries
Wildlife & Safari
Sanctuaries and conservation reserves, often quieter and cheaper than the parks next door.
24 places
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Haryana
Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary
Semi-arid Aravalli forest straddling the Delhi border into the Faridabad and Gurugram districts — 32 sq km of it, and one of the last pieces of the Delhi Ridge that development has not eaten. It is a working link in the leopard corridor that runs from Sariska through Nuh and Gurugram to the ridge, which is a better reason to walk it than any single sight inside. Old open-pit mines have filled into dozens of small lakes. The seasonal waterfalls at Pali, Dhuaj and Kot adjoin it, as does the sacred grove at Mangar Bani; Surajkund and Anangpur Dam are close.
Meghalaya
Baghmara Pitcher Plant Wildlife Sanctuary
The protected species here is a plant. Nepenthes khasiana, called Me'mang-Koksi or ghost basket locally, is an endangered pitcher plant, and this small reserve forest near Baghmara in the South Garo Hills exists to keep it going. Meghalaya only notified the area as a wildlife sanctuary in July 2022. It sits 112 km south of Tura, which is a long way to come for something you look down at rather than up at. Worth the detour if pitcher plants genuinely interest you, or if you are already in Baghmara. Otherwise, not.
Karnataka
Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary
Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve, set around the Bhadra reservoir near Chikmagalur in Karnataka's Western Ghats, is a lush tiger reserve known worldwide for a successful, voluntary relocation of villages that helped its wildlife rebound. Its forests shelter tigers, leopards, elephants, gaur and rich birdlife.
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Himachal Pradesh
Chail Sanctuary
Two names worth remembering here are Blossom and Jhaja, where the sambar, goral and cheer pheasant actually turn up. Barking deer and kalij pheasants come out at dusk and dawn, so the middle of the day is the worst time to be walking; plan around the light rather than the drive up. The forest is oak, pine and open grassland across 110 square kilometres, protected since 1976, with leopard and Himalayan black bear in it that you are unlikely to see. March to October is the window. The Maharaja of Patiala's European red deer are long gone, and the 1988 survey found none.
Kerala
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, in Kerala's Idukki district near Marayoor and Munnar, is an unusual rain-shadow reserve of dry thorny scrub and deciduous forest, very different from Kerala's usual rainforests. It is known for the grizzled giant squirrel, star tortoise, elephants and a landscape dotted with sandalwood trees and ancient rock art.
Andhra Pradesh
Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary
The tide runs this place. The forest floods at least twice a day, and the mangroves hold themselves clear of the water on a tangle of stilt-like prop roots that slows the current, drops sediment and builds the mud you are standing over. It is an estuary near Kakinada, the third largest stretch of mangrove in India, with 24 mangrove species and more than 120 kinds of bird, among them the critically endangered white-backed and long-billed vultures. Those two are rare enough that seeing either is luck, not planning. Come for the birds and the shape of the forest; nothing here is dramatic.
Arunachal Pradesh
Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary
The name is not about birds of prey: it comes from the Red Eagle Division of the Indian army, posted here in the 1950s. The ground climbs from 500 to 3,250 metres in West Kameng, which is the whole point of the place, since that spread of height is what packs so much into one sanctuary. Sessa Orchid Sanctuary adjoins it to the northeast and Pakke Tiger Reserve sits across the Kameng river to the east, so it is worth planning the three together rather than picking one.
Assam
Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary
The hoolock gibbon, India's only ape, lives in this patch of evergreen forest, calling from the hollong trees that dominate the upper canopy, and you are far more likely to hear it than see it. The Bengal slow loris is here too, northeast India's only nocturnal primate. Understand the scale before you come: the forest once ran to the Patkai foothills and is now an island ringed by tea gardens and villages, still losing ground to logging and encroachment. Come for the primates, not for a long mammal list.
Arunachal Pradesh
Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary
Few places in India can list a Bengal tiger and a snow leopard on the same sheet. Kamlang does, along with leopard and clouded leopard, which says more about how far the ground climbs than about your odds of seeing any of them. It became India's 50th tiger reserve, was declared an eco-sensitive zone in 2024, and takes its name from the Kamlang River running through it in Lohit district. Glow Lake is the one body of water worth aiming for. The Mishmi communities around the edge trace their descent from King Rukmo of the Mahabharata.
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Mizoram
Lengteng Wildlife Sanctuary
Birds are the reason this one exists. Lengteng was made a protected area in 1999 and a national wildlife sanctuary by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on 31 May 2001, specifically for its rare bird species, and the alpine forest it covers holds the second highest peak in Mizoram. That combination is the appeal and also the warning: high, cold, eastern Saitual district, walking-and-waiting country rather than a park you drive through. Bring binoculars and patience, or leave it to people who have both.
Maharashtra
Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary
Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Gondia and Bhandara districts of eastern Maharashtra, is a compact, lake-dotted forest that forms part of the Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve. Its teak and bamboo forests shelter tigers, leopards, gaur, wild dogs and abundant birdlife around scenic lakes.
Chandigarh
Parrot Bird Sanctuary, Chandigarh
The parrots keep their own timetable, flying out in flocks in the morning and coming back in the evening. That clock is photoperiodism, which is why the corporation's high-mast lights once wrecked their sleep until a resident raised it and the lights were switched off. The Sector 21 sanctuary is small, but two parks adjoin it and the flocks settle in those trees as well, so you are not tied to one spot. Go at either end of the day. In the flat middle hours there is little here beyond the benches teenagers call the Taj Mahal benches.
Uttar Pradesh
Patna Bird Sanctuary
Come in winter, or don't come. The lake here is small: a single square kilometre of water inside a sanctuary of 1.09, which makes it the smallest bird sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. In the cold months it carries something like 200,000 birds across 300 species, among them pintail, shoveler, Baer's pochard and black-necked stork. By summer the whole surface vanishes under water hyacinth and Potamogeton and there is little left to look at. It lies near Jalesar in Etah district, was founded in 1991, and became a Ramsar site in 2026.
Assam
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Morigaon district of Assam near Guwahati, is famed for having the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world. Its compact grasslands and wetlands are packed with rhinos and are also excellent for wild buffalo, leopards and migratory birds.
Maharashtra
Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary
Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Western Ghats of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, is one of the region's oldest protected areas and is known for its population of the Indian gaur (bison). Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats site, its dense forests, plateaus and the Radhanagari Dam support gaur, leopards, sloth bears and rich birdlife.
West Bengal
Ramnabagan Wildlife Sanctuary
Set your expectations to the size of the place and this is a decent hour out: 14.31 hectares of teak and sal inside Bardhaman, with spotted deer and common langur, run now as a small-category zoo under the name Bardhaman Zoological Park. It was declared reserved forest in 1960 and turned into a deer park in 1978 with six spotted deer. Anyone arriving for a wildlife sanctuary in the safari sense will be let down. This is a city forest patch with animals in it, and its value is exactly that, a break from the town around it.
Karnataka
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, on islets in the Kaveri river near Srirangapatna and Mysuru, is the largest bird sanctuary in Karnataka. Its riverine islands host large breeding colonies of painted storks, pelicans, herons, ibises and cormorants, while marsh crocodiles bask along the banks, all easily seen on a short boat ride.
Tripura
Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary
North Tripura's sanctuary sits close enough to Panisagar that the town presses on it from every side, and the record is blunt about it: significant anthropogenic pressure, with a real risk of the forest breaking into fragments. Rainfall is fairly high, which you would expect to settle the fire question, but the area is still classified as highly fire prone. None of that makes it worthless. It makes it a working piece of forest under strain rather than a set-piece. Worth a look if you are already in the north of the state; not worth the journey on its own.
Arunachal Pradesh
Sessa Orchid Sanctuary
Start at the nursery. It holds representative specimens of the sanctuary's orchid species along with a demonstration farm of Cymbidium hybrids grown for cut flowers, and half an hour there will teach you what to look for on the trekking routes the forest department has cut through the rest of it. Sessa covers 100 square kilometres of Himalayan foothill in West Kameng, running into Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary to the southwest as part of the Kameng Protected Area Complex. The ground is rugged, with deep gorges and high peaks, so this is walking rather than driving. Most of it is Bugun territory by tradition.
Chandigarh
Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary
Plan this one before you turn up. The 2,600-hectare preserve in the Shivalik hills near Sukhna Lake admits only a limited number of visitors and requires an entry pass, issued by the Forest Department office in Sector 19, so the trip really starts there and not at the gate. It has been a notified sanctuary since 1998. It is also usually closed to the public through the rainy season, which takes the wettest months off your calendar. Come with the pass already in hand.
Rajasthan
Tal Chhapar Sanctuary
Tal Chhapar Sanctuary, in the Churu district of Rajasthan's Shekhawati region, is a flat, saline grassland famed for its graceful blackbuck herds and as one of India's finest hotspots for raptors and migratory birds. The open plains make wildlife watching exceptionally easy and rewarding.
Sikkim
Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary
A 104 sq km sanctuary in the Singalila Range in western Sikkim, running up against Nepal to the west and, to the south, West Bengal across the Rambong Khola stream. The rhododendrons bloom from March until May, and that is the whole case for coming. Outside those months you are walking good ridge forest with nothing in flower, which is a fine day out but not the day out you came for. So fix your dates first and build the rest of the trip around them. If you can choose, aim for the middle of that window rather than its edges. It is also spelled Barsey.
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Manipur
Yangoupokpi-Lokchao Wildlife Sanctuary
The interest here is where it sits: right on the Indo-Myanmar border in Chandel district, at the seam where two major geographical zones meet, so the forest carries Indo-Burma diversity rather than the usual Indian mix. It covers 184.8 square kilometres and lies about 110 km from Imphal, which is a long day's driving in this terrain. Naturalists will get more out of it than casual visitors. Treat it as a trip for people who already know what they are looking for.
Chilika & Rambha Coast
Nalabana Bird Sanctuary
A lagoon island that hosts huge flocks of migratory birds.