Palamau Tiger Reserve is located within the civil administrative district of Palamau in the South Chhotanagpur plateau of Bihar. The area is prone to severe droughts, average rainfall varying between 700 to 900 mm.
The total area is 928 sq. kms, and the core area 213 sq. kms.

Palamau is situated within the lndo-Malayan realm and is rich in flora and fauna and amongst the predators besides the tiger are leopards, wolves, wild dogs and jungle cats. Sloth bear, four horned antelope and mouse dear are some of the herbivores.

There are 107 villages in the buffer, 3 in the core with a human population of 65,000 and a livestock population of 45,000. The core is distributed in 2 parts, the actual core and the recently inducted 'Satellite core'. The core area was declared a National Park in September, 1989.

The Sanctuary was brought under Project Tiger in 1973 and is among the first 9 such Tiger Reserves of the country.

The western part of the Reserve is composed of dry deciduous forests and the other part shows characters of moist mixed deciduous nature. The entire area has a good distribution of bamboo breaks. The herbarium recently prepared by the Tiger Reserve authorities records a good number of medicinal plants.