Hyderabad's Nehru Zoological Park aka Hyderabad Zoo

Hyderabad is dry and it doesn't rain as much here as it does in many other cities of the country. As a result, the Hyderabadi terrain is largely composed of rocks. Huge boulders of stones strewn around everywhere with a few shrubs and fewer trees anywhere in sight. Its a lot like Ahmedabad in that respect, albeit, I have to say that the Government in Hyderabad has really worked in making this city even more beautiful. As I have already mentioned in my post about Durgam Cheruvu aka Secret Lake, the tourism department of Andhra Pradesh has worked wonders for the city of Hyderabad.

The Zoo in Hyderabad aka Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad is one such place that is really well created and superbly maintained. The whole zoo is lush green with trees and extremely well maintained. The animals are not kept in cages as with the usual zoo, but instead they are all kept in huge open areas and trenches are dug to ensure that they do not jump out. This made photographing the animals a lot more fun and I hope it helped the animals live better too. The moment I entered the zoo, I went berserk with my camera. There was so much to click and so little time.

We saw the beautiful white tigers lazing around in the afternoon and they were a lot of fun to photograph in the open as there was a trench separating us from them and no barbed wire as is the usual case. Here is a picture of the white tigers.

I also had a chance to snap a beautiful photograph of this pair of Herons - if I remember the name correctly, and here is that.
There were many ponds and lakes in the zoo itself and at one of these water bodies, I found this pair of swan.
While clicking snaps in the Butterfly garden, I came across a large variety of flowers, cultivated to attract a large variety of butterflies. On such beautiful snap is showcased below.
This picture of two lovebirds on a small pillar is one of my favorite snaps from the zoo. This pair of lovebirds was standing right under the light from the sun and it allowed me to get this beautiful snap with the birds well illuminated and defined by the sunlight.
In the butterfly park, I managed to get a superb snap of a butterfly sitting on a flower and it does look very beautiful. I have seen hundreds of similar snaps, but still I like this photograph of butterfly too.
Wildlife photography - even in a zoo, made me realize the importance of having a proper DSLR, as the slow shutter speeds and fast reaction times required leave very less room for error. My Canon S3 IS fell woefully short of my expectations while shooting in the zoo.

Here is one snap from the lake which I took while waiting for the boat to take us on a joyride around the lake. I don't know if this is the picture of a Heron or that of a swan, but the contrasting colors do make it look beautiful. I was not able to really focus well on the black bird and that does show in the photograph, but its a good snap nevertheless.

The Zoological Park in Hyderabad is a huge place and besides the Mir Alam Tank it also has a small toy train you can take a ride in and a small animal safari through a region where they have kept the cheetahs and the lions in the wild. The whole tour of the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad will easily take a full day. I will not recommend the Zoo for tourists coming to visit Hyderabad for a 3-4 day visit, but for the IT crowd and students living in Hyderabad, the Zoo is definitely a must visit. Some more details about the zoo.

Mir Alam Tank, Hyderabad
The last picture was taken at the Mir Alam tank which forms a boundary of the Nehru Zoological Park. Mir Alam was a Prime Minister of Hyderabad from 1804 to 1808 and he was instrumental in building this mile long arched dam with 21 arches. Its construction was started on 25th July 1804 and was completed on 8th June 1806. Andhra Pradesh Tourism offers boating facilities that include mechanised boats, steering boats and speed boats. The speed boats available here are mostly hired for film shootings. A 20 minutes trip on the boat takes anything between Rs 20 to Rs 150 depending on the type of boat hired. Guest House accommodation is also available.

Timings of the Hyderabad Zoo

April to June : 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
July to March : 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Fees for the Hyderabad Zoo

The entry fees are Rs 20 for adults and Rs 15 for children. The fees for various other rides like Train Ride, Elephant Ride, Maharaja Elephant Ride, Safari Ride and the Nocturnal Animal House range from Rs. 15 to Rs 50. Carrying a camera inside the zoo also costs Rs 20 and if you want to bring in your four wheeler you will have to shell out an additional Rs 500 for that.