Wildlife of Hyderabad

This afternoon I stopped by our hotel room after a curriculum meeting and looked out the window to see . . .

A herd of water buffalo. Of course I went downstairs to get a closer shot.

We've actually seen a lot of water buffalo around Hyderabad. They are in the rest of India too, but they seem to be more prevalent in larger numbers inside the city here. This was the first time I saw them when I wasn't looking out a bus window.

Looking out of the bus window, its too hard to take pictures unless we're stuck in traffic. And for some reason, the interesting creatures never show up when we're stuck in traffic. On the road today I looked out to see a camel making his way along the shoulder. To be fair, he wasn't wild, he was a pack animal, but still. I couldn't get the shot, but maybe Ricky did--he's pretty fast with  his camera and keeps it ready on the bus. I also saw two or three peahens and a peacock. Again, too fast.

Dogs are more common than cows, so it's almost cheating to post a picture of one, but I liked this fellow hanging out at Golconda Fort.

Deeper into the fort, we were hit by a smell that I just recently learned to recognize: bat guano. Inside the vaulted chambers of the royal quarters in the ruined Sultanate fortress, we heard their chittering off in a side chamber. I turned on the flash and shot blind. This shot was pure luck and doesn't enlarge well, but here it is.

I also saw a mouse in one of the diaramas at the Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum, but now I'm really reaching.