June 2014. Geography Hyderabad is south of Delhi, southeast of Mumbai, and north of Bangalore by road. It is situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, along the banks of the Musi River, a tributary of Krishna River located on the Deccan Plateau in the northern part of South India. Greater Hyderabad covers , making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of , Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at . The city has numerous lakes sometime referred to as sagar, meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre), Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. , the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds). Climate Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The annual mean temperature is ; monthly mean temperatures are . Summers (March–June) are hot and dry, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to . May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from ; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from . Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and October, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February. Conservation Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. , the tree cover is 1.7% of the total city area, a decrease from 2.7% in 1996. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of national parks, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary. Nehru Zoological Park, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (Mrugavani National