Hawa Mahal on Visakhapatnam's Beach Road is hosting a wildlife photography exhibition on October 3 and 4, running 10am to 8pm each day. It's part of World Wildlife Week 2026 and puts 150 images of Andhra Pradesh's forests, wetlands, grasslands and coast under one roof.
The show is organised by local collective WildVizag with the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, pulling together work from 23 photographers across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
What makes it more than a photo wall is the context built around the images. A dedicated section maps out Andhra Pradesh's wildlife sanctuaries, explaining the habitats they protect and the species that depend on them. The tiger reserve team is bringing actual field equipment too — camera traps, surveillance cameras, drones, tranquilisers and other kit forest staff use daily. It's a rare look at the unglamorous machinery behind wildlife protection, sitting alongside the pictures it makes possible.
One standout display is Project Black by filmmaker Arun Thyadi, which documents 18 snake species found in the state. The range is striking: from the king cobra down to the Brahminy blind snake, one of the world's smallest. For anyone who's ever written off snakes as one indistinct category, it's a crash course.
The organisers describe the show as awareness-driven rather than purely artistic — the aim is that visitors leave knowing which forests and protected areas sit behind the frames, and what conservation work is happening there. There's also a souvenir stall with caps and T-shirts if you want to take a bit of it home.
Why bother if you're not a photographer? Because it doubles as a planning tool. Andhra Pradesh is an underrated wildlife state — the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve is India's largest tiger reserve, and the state has coastal birding spots, Eastern Ghats forest and riverine habitats that rarely make mainstream itineraries. Seeing the sanctuaries mapped and explained, with people from the Forest Department on hand, is a genuinely useful way to scope out trips beyond Vizag's beaches. If you're in Visakhapatnam this weekend, it's an easy couple of hours on Beach Road — and it might reshape where you go next.
