[imagesource: andBeyond]

I have a “stunning” view of a hotel parking lot from my apartment so, since lockdown began, the only nature I’ve seen is the friendly pigeon that visits my balcony, and my house plants.

For ‘A Bird Named Sue’s’ Spotify playlist, go here.

Yes, we’ve reached the point where I’m making playlists for pigeons.

Don’t judge me.

For those of you looking for a bit of nature, without befriending strange pigeons, there are, thankfully, online solutions that will scratch that itch.

The Guardian compiled a list of virtual tours of the world’s natural wonders for you take in from your couch.

Three of those for your viewing pleasure:

The Northern Lights

The Norwegian Lights over Lapland project takes you on a five-minute journey through a series of 360-degree videos, so click around on the video to expore.

Lapland also featured on CNN’s best wilderness areas list, if you’d like more footage of this spectacular natural wonder.

Zhāngjiājiè

The above is pronounced ‘jaang-jyaa-jie’, in case you were wondering. The quartz-sandstone pillars of the park were the inspiration for the Hallelujah Mountains in James Cameron’s Avatar.

Patagonia

Take an immersive video tour of the wilderness, created by The Guardian in 2018.

For a bit of local flavour, Singita, which operates 15 luxury game lodges and camps across four countries in Africa, and has been live-streaming game drives on Instagram.

A taste of that, complete with giraffes:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Monday morning soul food from Singita Grumeti in Tanzania, where this clip of a pair of giraffe quietly going about their day was filmed last week. Turn up the volume to hear the sounds of the Serengeti 🔊⁠ •⁠ #Giraffe #WildlifeMoments #TravelTomorrow #StayHome #VirtualTravels #TinyTravelStory #TourismStrong #BetterTogether #GameDrive #PostponeDontCancel #SingitaGrumeti #Tanzania #Serengeti #SerengetiSafari #LuxurySafari #SafariMoments #OurSingita #Singitagram #Singita_ #WildlifeConservation #SustainableTourism @grumetifund

A post shared by Singita (@singita_) on Apr 6, 2020 at 5:55am PDT

These live streams have been so successful that you can also catch them on the YouTube channel andBeyond. This one is from April 2, 2020:

andBeyond boasts live streams from a number of game parks so it’s worth checking out.

One more for the road – this one streamed on April 7, 2020:

Most of these videos feature at least one bird for all the birders out there.

You can check out more online wilderness tours and safaris, here.

Bring the outside in, and don’t go outside.

[source:guardian]