Rangapahar Wildlife Sanctuary

Rangapahar Wildlife Sanctuary covers about 4.7 sq km of low hills and undulating ground near Dimapur, in the Chümoukedima district of Nagaland. Created from the former Rangapahar Reserved Forest, it was notified in 1986 to conserve surviving forest patches and native wildlife, and it is among the closest legally protected forests to the city. Encroachment, farming, grazing and urban growth have all put pressure on it.

Its semi-evergreen and mixed deciduous hill forest holds woodpeckers, hornbills and cuckoos, along with deer, primates and squirrels, and the region also has endangered hoolock gibbons. Bird watchers, school groups and local tourists come here, and are advised to follow Forest Department guidelines. The Nagaland Zoological Park, set up in 2008 and managed by the Forest Department, lies within the same forest landscape and has taken part in captive-breeding and rewilding work.