Most visitors to Varanasi never leave the ghats — and honestly, who can blame them. But just 70 km from the city, tucked into the Vindhya hills of Chandauli district, lies a completely different side of eastern UP: Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary.
Established in 1957 and spread across roughly 78 sq. km on the Naugarh and Vijaigarh hillocks, Chandraprabha is fed by the Chandraprabha River — a tributary of the Ganga — and is home to nilgai, chital, wild boar, black buck, porcupine, and a good
variety of birdlife including the Indian peafowl and paradise flycatcher. The sanctuary's real showstoppers, though, are its twin waterfalls, Rajdari and Devdari, which are at their thunderous best just after the monsoon (July–August is considered peak season).
There's also a quieter, human side to the sanctuary — a small tribal community living within the forest, a Nature Interpretation Centre, and a Forest Department guest house near Rajdari falls if you want to stay overnight instead of doing it as
a day trip.
Practical info:
Distance from Varanasi: ~70 km (about 2 hours by road)
Entry fee: ₹30 (Indians), ₹350 (foreign nationals)
Timings: 6 AM – 5 PM
Best time to visit: July to February, especially post-monsoon for the waterfalls
Getting there: Public transport is limited — you'd need a bus to Mughalsarai and then shared jeeps onward, which eats up most of a day. Most travelers hire a private taxi directly from Varanasi instead, which turns it into a comfortable half-day/full-day
trip. I run a Varanasi-based taxi service (ShriKashiTrip.com) and Chandraprabha is one of the routes we get asked about a lot by travelers looking to combine their
Kashi pilgrimage with a bit of nature — happy to answer questions here if anyone's planning a similar trip.
It's a nice reminder that Varanasi isn't just temples and ghats — there's a forest with waterfalls a couple of hours away that most tourists never even hear about.