Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary

Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary, established in 1990, lies near Palkot in the Gumla and Simdega districts of Jharkhand, 25 km from Gumla town and 92 km to the south-west of Ranchi. Of its roughly 760 sq km, 182.83 sq km is forest. The ground is rugged, part flat-topped hills known as pat and part rolling plateau, in the south-western Chota Nagpur Plateau, and rivers including the Sankh and Banki flow through it, with the Tapkara dam inside the sanctuary.

Its dry deciduous forest holds sal, mahua, kusum, asan, gamhar, amla, mango and jackfruit. Elephants pass through on migration and stay only a few months, and the sanctuary also gives refuge to leopards, bears, jackals, hyenas, monkeys, porcupines, pangolins and hares. Birds include jungle fowl, peafowl, parrots, koels and owls.