Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary

Wildlife sanctuary in India

Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in the Murud and Roha talukas of Raigad district, Maharashtra state, India. It was created in 1986 to preserve some of the coastal woodland ecosystem of the Western Ghats and consists of of forest, grasslands and wetlands. The area was once part of the hunting reserves of the princely state of Murud Janjira.

The Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary is located some from Mumbai. It is situated between Roha, Murud Janjira and Alibaug talukas of Raigarh district. There are four main trails through the sanctuary that takes in the main waterholes, Ghunyacha Maal, Chikhalgaan and Phansadgaan, that are some of the best places to see wildlife. The "Sacred Grove" (Devrai) is located near Supegaon. Pockets of open grassland, called maals, occur throughout the sanctuary. The places of natural water sources in the sanctuary are called "Gaan". The sanctuary is best approachable by road from Murud Janjira and Roha. The nearest rail head is Roha.

Before independence this sanctuary was private hunting Game reserve of Siddhi Nawab of Janjira State in Murud Janjira. The entire area was notified as deemed reserved forest under section 4 of Indian forest Act, 1927 The major part of the present day sanctuary was a part of Phansad working Circle. The sanctuary was declared on 25 2 1986 vide Government of Maharashtra notification WLP/1085/CR 75/F 5 Dt. 25.2.1986. The final notification declaring eco sensitive zone around the Phansad sanctuary was made by Government vide Notification 105. S. O. 1603 (E) dated 17.05.2017. The Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) is spread over an area of 10.96 km2 around the sanctuary. About 43 villages of Murud taluka and Roha taluka are part of the eco sensitive zone. The management plan for Phansad wildlife sanctuary is approved vide letter Desk 22(8)/WL/M Plan/CR 166 Part14/2988/17 18 on 21/12/2017 for the year 2016–17 to 20125 26 by the Government of India

The sanctuary is rich in flora and fauna. The forest types are semi evergreen, evergreen, Mixed deciduous and dry deciduous forests and grasslands and coast.

The forest on the top hill of the sanctuary are evergreen which include mostly Anjan (Memecylon umbellatum), Phansada (Garcinia talbootii) while those on the slopes are dry deciduous which include ain, kinjal, teak, hirda, jamba, mango, and various ficus. The sanctuary has 710 species of Plants which include 179 species of trees, 66shrubs, 141 herbs etc. (Marathe 2004).