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(CNN) — Though mainly associated with Japan, cherry blossom season is a widely anticipated event in cities around the world, a sign that spring has arrived, an opportunity for people to get out and enjoy nature’s unrivaled beauty. Right now, no city is more deserving of that message of hope and renewal than Wuhan, which has been under lockdown since January 24 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Wuhan’s cherry blossom trees are in full bloom right now. One of the best places to enjoy them is Wuhan University, which is normally filled with cherry blossom admirers. This season, however, has been anything but normal. It’s nearly empty due to the ongoing lockdown, creating scenes of ethereal beauty. Li Hao, a teacher living on the campus during the lockdown, captured stunning drone footage of the light pink blossoms, which can be viewed in the above video. “I believe that any disaster or challenge will eventually come to an end,” Li tells CNN. A staff member takes photos of cherry blossoms at Wuhan University on March 17, 2020.STR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images”Just like these cherry flowers, sooner or later, they will always blossom. That’s what I believe, as long as we don’t give up our pursuit of a beautiful life, as long as we continue our effort to make it happen.” According to Chinese state media, over 1,000 cherry trees are scattered across the university campus. Some of the oldest were gifted to the city by Japan in the 1970s, when China and Japan established diplomatic relations.Lockdown due to lift April 8Wuhan, with a population of some 11 million people, was the first Chinese city to be sealed off from the world as the virus began to spread. All flights, trains and buses were canceled and highway entrances blocked. Two months later, the worst of the pandemic appears to have passed in mainland China and officials have announced they will lift the lockdown on April 8. In the meantime, locals can take in the blossoms online. The university has set up numerous cameras around the campus, offering various views of the cherry blossoms in bloom on several Chinese apps including Taobao and WeChat.

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(CNN) — Hundreds of trekkers are stranded on high-altitude trekking trails across Nepal due to a nationwide lockdown designed to contain the coronavirus spread.There are about 500 foreign trekkers on at least four trekking routes unable to return due to the lockdown, which started Tuesday and will last for a week, according to Shradha Shrestha, a spokeswoman for the Nepal Tourism Board.”We are working with multiple government agencies to rescue the trekkers and bring them to Kathmandu, so that we can coordinate with the embassies to fly them back home,” Shrestha told CNN.”Several embassies such as the German and French are already planning to send chartered flights to some of these areas to rescue the trekkers,” Shrestha added.The tourism board has launched a website to make it easier for the stranded trekkers to reach out to authorities, said Shrestha.The British embassy in Kathmandu asked its citizens in Nepal who are looking to return to the UK to send their details to staff. “We’re working closely with carriers and authorities to try to find a solution, and will contact you ASAP,” tweeted the embassy.Nepal’s government announced earlier this month the spring climbing season for all the Himalayan peaks in the country, including the world’s highest Mount Everest, would be canceled due to coronavirus.Climbing permits for Mount Everest are canceled until the end of April, said Nepal’s Tourism Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari.The decision came at the start of this year’s closely watched climbing season, which was already getting underway amid concerns around overcrowding on the Earth’s highest peak. Permits to climb Everest cost around $11,000.Breathing is hampered by the extreme altitudes on the mountain, so an outbreak of coronavirus — which often causes respiratory problems — could have been particularly devastating at an Everest camp.Nepal has three cases of coronavirus confirmed so far, according to the Nepal Health Ministry data.

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(CNN) — Stay in Cairo with family or catch the last flight to Canada to be with my love. I needed to decide quickly but feared that traveling during this pandemic was the equivalent of suicide, or worse, murder. As Covid-19 began to spread across the globe, I believed nowhere was safe and self-isolation was the best course of action. Still, love will make you do stupid things.I’m a Canadian-Egyptian in love with an Italian-American, Francesca Brundisini, who is working on a postdoc in Quebec City. She’s new to the city and feared that her isolation with no friends or family would lead to a communication breakdown if she contracted the virus.As news of the pandemic broke out worldwide, we both realized that this crisis would last more than a few weeks. It was the distance, the uncertainty, and an alarmed Italian mother — panicking in Italy — that pushed me to make a move.There was no guarantee I would be able to find a flight and leaving behind my family left me feeling tormented.Both my parents are in their 60s and are at high-risk as they suffer from various health complications, including diabetes and heart issues. Leaving them could have meant never seeing them again.They encouraged me to try to find a flight, partly because they cared and worried about my partner being alone in Canada, but also because we all thought finding a ticket would’ve been impossible.Scrambling for a seatEihab Boraie hugs his mom farewell at Cairo’s international airport.Eihab BoraieOnce Egypt announced its airports would close on March 19, the only tickets left skyrocketed from $700 to over $3,000, most of them requiring stops in virus-ravaged countries.I decided to take a chance and put my name on EgyptAir’s waiting list for a direct flight to Toronto hoping for a miracle. I assumed the only way I would be traveling home was if the Canadian government sent a plane to retrieve stranded Canadians.Incredibly, hours before the airport’s closure, I received a call confirming that I had a seat on the last flight to Canada.I rushed to EgyptAir’s office in Cairo’s Korba district and got the ticket. As I ran out the door, a jewelry store nearby caught my eye. It was ridiculous that this non-essential store stayed open, but it was as if the universe knew I needed one at that moment.On the drive back home, I saw Egypt’s military dispersing across the city preparing to deploy, a move that often indicates that a curfew may be coming. Memories of mandatory curfew during Egypt’s uprisings started rushing back, but in these strange times, these draconian measures were oddly comforting as they would help limit infections.Emotional farewellEihab Boraie wearing a face mask en route to Canada.Eihab BoraieI arrived at the airport and gave a big hug to both my parents, hoping it wouldn’t be the last.Overwhelmed with emotions, I entered the terminal expecting to encounter scenes of chaos. Instead, the building was shockingly empty.Before the pandemic, Cairo Airport had been bustling as tourism had begun bouncing back following recent political and social upheaval in the wake of Egypt’s uprisings.During those times, I had seen Cairo’s airport empty, but never like this.There was no line at the first security check. Throughout the airport, it appeared that most workers were wearing masks and sometimes gloves, but not everyone. I noticed a few workers handling the luggage carts weren’t wearing either.As I arrived at the check-in counters, I was told that this was the last flight going to Canada. There were no other flights checking in at the time. The lack of departures was a relief as it allowed the passengers to socially distance from one another.Cairo Airport was mostly empty. Eihab BoraieOnce I checked in, there were no lines at security to enter the terminal and there was barely anyone inside except a few employees and passengers.Navigating the massive walkways — at times with absolutely no one in sight — felt like being in a post-apocalyptic movie waiting for a swarm of contagious zombies to turn the corner.At no point was my temperature checked, nor was there anyone asking about any symptoms.I later learned from a relative who took the same plane back to Egypt that they were doing temperature checks on arrival at Cairo Airport.The line getting onto the plane was uncomfortably crowded. Most passengers were equipped with masks and covered up, only revealing the nervousness in their eyes. Those who remained mask-less were often old or young and equally indifferent to the crisis at hand. The longest flight of my lifeCheck-in for the flight was crowded. Most passengers wore masks.Eihab BoraieBoarding MS995 was completed in record time. Yet the departure was annoyingly delayed.Two passengers refused to take their seats as they were seated beside the toilets. After a failed attempt to switch places, they finally decided to forfeit their tickets on the last flight out.Every decision made on this trip seemed magnified into a matter of life and death, and sitting by the bathroom on a fully booked flight could have arguably increased the chances of being infected.The only worse scenario would be sitting beside someone exhibiting symptoms, which is where I found myself.Sandwiched between a 72-year-old mother and her 38-year-old daughter, I immediately offered them both hand sanitizer.The mother was wearing a mask but appeared to have a runny nose and cough. While the daughter sitting in the aisle seat was wearing no protective measures and didn’t seem too concerned about the risk of traveling.There wasn’t a passenger aboard that could have predicted the series of decisions made that week, and it seemed everyone had to scramble for a ticket.”I was expecting that the borders would be closed in Canada, not in Egypt, but it happened in Egypt before Canada,” explained the mother.Departure was delayed by passengers anxious at being seated near the toilet.Eihab BoraieAs she continued to explain her frustrating ordeal to find tickets, the mother mentioned their efforts to receive help from the consulate were to no avail. Her daughter believed that visiting the EgyptAir office in person was the reason they found seats.”I found out a lot of people on the previous flight out had been turned away because they weren’t Canadians. So, there were empty seats on that flight, and I decided we should try to go to the office and get on the waiting list … When we got the tickets, I was excited, it felt like we had won the lottery,” explained the daughter.Throughout the flight, I was on edge as every cough was a reminder that I was potentially traveling with the invisible enemy sitting next to me. I asked the mother if she was feeling well, but she continued to assure me she was okay.”I just got a cold a few days ago and looked at the symptoms, but they say it doesn’t start with a runny nose, it starts with a dry cough. But don’t tell anybody, I don’t want them to send me back,” she pleaded.I wondered if she was risking the flight because she would feel safer in Canada, but then she explained: “I don’t think Ottawa is safer than Cairo, I just want to be home and be with my daughters and grandchildren.”The whole reason for my travel was to be with the one I love, but I wouldn’t have taken the trip if I was showing symptoms.Landing in TorontoThe airport in Toronto was also quiet.Eihab BoraieI arrived in Toronto and expected the airport to be filled with Canadians returning from all over the world, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently urged citizens overseas to head home.To my amazement, the airport was as barren as Cairo’s. When we got off the plane, there was some security personnel handing out pamphlets reminding people to self-isolate for two weeks.At customs, they casually asked me if I had any symptoms, but again I didn’t have my temperature checked or anything else. Maybe they had a hidden thermal imaging camera somewhere, but as a Canadian, I was concerned that these screening measures weren’t enough.The only line I had to wait at in the airport wasn’t at customs, security or health checks but at a coffee shop. Once I reached the cashier, I again felt disheartened as none of the employees were wearing masks.I had seven hours before my next flight. I decided to explore the airport and discovered a medical clinic.I asked the receptionist if they offered a Covid-19 test. Their eyes widened at the question and they told me that they didn’t, but gave me a number to call if I started exhibiting symptoms.As I continued wandering around, I assumed traffic would pick up. But by midday, there was only a handful of travelers scattered across the airport.”I was working here during SARS, but even then, the airport was never this empty,” one airport security guard told me.Proposing quarantineThere was plenty of room on the flight to Quebec City.Eihab BoraieThe flight to Quebec City was half empty, allowing most passengers to take a row of seats for themselves.Upon arrival, there was once again no screening process. I had traveled from Cairo to Quebec City during a global pandemic without even a basic check.In the time it took me to get there, more than a thousand people had died of Covid-19, and the death toll had surpassed 10,000 globally.When my girlfriend Francesca arrived, I snuck up behind her, got down on one knee, and proposed.She was completely caught off guard as less than 48 hours before she didn’t know when and if she would ever see me again, let alone predict that I would ask her to marry me.She accepted my proposal, we removed our masks and made it official with a long kiss.She said yes!Eihab BoraieI was relieved she said yes as it reaffirmed that although the journey was risky it was worth it. I couldn’t have imagined what I would have done if she refused as there was no going back to Egypt.My fiancée loved the ring and placed it on her finger, but we both knew that the kiss sealed the deal as it meant she accepted possibly contracting the virus that I hoped I wasn’t carrying.When they heard about the engagement, her family and friends in Italy showered us with congratulations. For many of them this was the first bit of good news they had heard in over a month.The couple is looking forward to getting married in Italy after the crisis. Eihab BoraieIf I learned anything from this crisis it’s that time is unpredictably short, and if I was willing to risk her health, I should also be prepared to commit to spending the rest of our lives together.Our hope is that we will get to enjoy each other beyond the next two weeks, but we both know that there’s no telling if the risk of traveling was worth it until our quarantine is over.When the world is healed, our plan is to get married in Italy on the island of Giglio, but it’s hard to imagine when that will be. Until that day the only couple goals we set in stone is to stay isolated and survive the quarantine.

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(CNN) — Elephants forced to perform tricks and carry tourists in a Thailand park are to be liberated from their controversial work as a consequence of the coronavirus, the park’s owner says.Anchalee Kalampichit, the owner of Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, closed the park on Monday after tourist numbers plummeted from “hundreds” each day to less than 20, she told CNN.Kalampichit said she would take the opportunity to revamp the park and let the 78 elephants on site roam freely for the first time.When it reopens in the future, she said, the park would focus instead on “educating” tourists about elephants — and would no longer force them to carry tourists or perform tricks.Following pressure from critics who say such wildlife tourism is cruel, Kalampichit said she had already decided to make a change last year to enable the elephants to live happier lives and had visited elephant sanctuaries with her staff to learn about them.She said the coronavirus pandemic had accelerated her decision, as a drop off in footfall effectively forced the park to close.”I didn’t know what else to do in the camp instead of shows and elephant riding. I talked to one lady who is well known for saving elephants and nature at the Elephant Nature Park… she lets the elephants go around unchained.”We want to do the same thing at Maesa Elephant Camp instead of riding,” she said.”On 23 March I decided to close and asked my staff to keep the seating [for spectators] and put them aside… We put away everything we used to have for tourists and my announcement to the public is that we will stop from now on shows and riding on the elephants,” she said.Kalampichit said that for many of the 78 elephants living on the site, this would be the first time they would not have to wear seats for tourists. “We don’t want to do it anymore,” she said.The Thai government announced on Wednesday it would ban the majority of foreign nationals from entering the country as part of measures designed to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

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A Montana television reporter was filming at Yellowstone National Park when he saw a herd of bison approaching.

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A zookeeper took a break from his duties to offer a dance for the Melbourne Zoo’s webcam viewers. Livecam platforms like Zoos Victoria and Explore.org are now seeing a boost in popularity.

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