The Katarniya Ghat Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the Upper Gangetic plain falling in the Terai of Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The Katarniya Ghat Forest provides strategic connectivity between tiger habitats of Dudhwa and Kishanpur in India and Nepal. The sanctuary has a mosaic of Sal and Teak forests, lush grasslands, numerous swamps and wetlands. It is home to a number of endangered species including gharial, tiger, rhino, Gangetic dolphin, Swamp deer, Hispid hare, Bengal florican, the White-backed and Long-billed vultures.
The whole of the area is subject to the climatic variations typical of the plains of Northern India with their extremes of heat and cold . The winter nights area very cold and foggy and heavy dews fall regularly , with the result that the vegetation remains damp for most of the day. The days at this time of the year are cool and bright . Forests occur generally in January. The nights remain cool and dew falls until late in the spring, the hot weather commencing in April and lasting and lasting until the rains break towards the end of June .Heavy monsoon rains fall from then onwards until October and give, with the winter rains, and average annual fall of about 1300 mm. The prevailing winds are from the east, but during the hot weather there are often strong west winds, and mild hurricanes from the north and west accompanied by showers.
Mammals - Panthera pardus (Guldar) , Panthera tigris ( Tiger), Felis viverrina (Fishing cat), Macaca mulatta (Monkey), Presbytis entellus (Langur), Heprpestes edwardsi (Mongoose), Herpestes auropunctatus ( small indian Mangoose), Viverricula indica ( small Indian civet), Canis aureus (Jackal), Mellivora capensis (Honey Badger), Lutra perspicillata ( smooth Indian Otter), Boselaphus tragocamelus ( Blue bull), Axis axis ( Spotted Dear), Axis porcinus (Hog Dear), Muntiacus muntjak ( Barking Dear), Cervus duvaceli (Swamp Dear), Cervus unicolor ( Sambar), Sus scrofa ( Wild Boar), Rhinoceros unicornis (Great Indian Rhino), Elephus maximus (Asian Elphant), Lepus nigricollis (Hare) .
Birds- Podiceps ruficollis (Dabchick), Pelicnus philipensis (spotbilled pelican), Phalacrocorax carbo ( Large Cormorant), Phalacrocorax niger (Lillte cormorant), Ardea cinera (Grey Heron), Ciconia ciconia (White Stocrk), Ciconia nigra ( Black strock), Threskiornis aethiopica (White Ibis), Gyps indicus ( Indian Longbilled Vulture), Pandion haliatus ( Osprey), Gallus gallus ( Red jungle Fowl), Grus antigone (Sarus Crane), Amaurornis phoenicurus ( whit Breasted water hen), Ninox scutulata ( Brown Hawk owl).
Reptiles – Magar, Ghariyal, Python, Sandboa, Banded crate , Rusel viper , Rat snake and all kinds of Fishes.
Katarniya Ghat Wild life Division Bahraich has been declared Sanctuary in the year of 1976 and also included in Project Tiger in year 2003. In the flora it is dominantly Sal Forest with its associates tree species like Terminalia alata (Asna) , Lagerstroemia parviflora (Asidha), Adina cordifonia (Haldu), Mitragyna parpiflora (Faldu) , Gamelina arborea (Gahmhar), Holoptelea intgrifolia (Kanju), Acacia catechu ( Khair), Pterocarpus marsupium (Vija sal) , Kydia calyina (Poola), Lannea coromandelica ( Jhigan), Toona ciliata ( Toon). Shurbs like- Murraya koenighii (Kath neem), Grawia hirsuta (Van Tulsi), Mallotus phillipensis (Rohni). Grass like – Phragmits karka(Narkul), Cynodon dactylon (Doob), Vetiveria zizanioides (Khaskhas), Erianthus munja (Moonj) etc.