Lawalong Wildlife Sanctuary

Lawalong Wildlife Sanctuary covers 207 sq km in Lawalong block, Chatra district, Jharkhand, about 35 km from Chatra; the nearest large railway station is Daltonganj, 50 km away. The Amanat River bounds it to the south, the Chako to the west and the Lilajan to the north-east. Its forests once belonged to the Raja of Ramgarh and other landlords and drew hunters from across India. The government took charge in 1924, ownership passed to Bihar in 1953, and hunting ended under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

The forest is northern tropical dry deciduous, with sal throughout. Mammals include rhesus macaques, langurs, Indian elephants, sambar, leopards, spotted and barking deer, sloth bears, jungle cats, mongooses and dhole, and birds include peafowl, partridges, quails, hornbills and vultures. Sixty-four villages lie within it. A forest rest house at Lawalong takes tourists, though Maoist activity was reported in the area as of 2020.