Observe the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl searching for radioactive beasts with VBS

by Justin Delaney on

25 years ago today, a catastrophic nuclear disaster took place at the Chernobyl power plant in the city of Pripyat. Haunted by the specter of radiation, the one time city transformed into a spread of creepy abandoned buildings and one of the most poisonous places on the planet – the Red Forest. With humans gone, the town has been taken back by wildlife. Today, wolves wander abandoned schools with kitschy Soviet propaganda peeling from the wall and bears lumber through the overgrown amusement park that opened the day after the disaster, April 27, 1986.

In this video by the crew at Vice, Shane Smith goes on a tour of Pripyat to hunt for mutant beasts and explore derelict buildings. The abandoned radioactive town is an eerie ghost-scape, but many travelers have been making the 100km journey from Kiev to visit this strange example of an abandoned modern town. The video is an interesting and somewhat humorous look inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Dragon tourism. Yes, DRAGON tourism.

by Abha Malpani on

I’ve always had a strange desire to be in a Jurassic Park film. The last time I was at Universal Studios, I remember seeing the dinosaurs in an utter state of awe as I imagined how life would have been if these creatures still existed.

Dragons on the other hand, I’ve only read about in story books and would never have imagined that there are 2,500 of them walking freely on Indonesia’s Komodo Island. Yes my friends, there are humongous carnivorous lizards — some that are 10-feet long — walking at their own liberty, on our planet!

17,000 people visited Komodo National Park last year, a number not too high perhaps only because of the lack of tourist facilities on the island. (I imagine if you are visiting an island with dragons, the more tourist facilities around, the higher your likelihood of visiting, no?). As for me, my explorer spirit doesn’t include being dragon-fearless: I’d jump out of my skin and run for my life if I ever encountered one.

Also, according to National Wildlife Magazine, the thick saliva of the dragon is known to kill the animals it bites and some researchers are risking their lives to find out what is in the saliva that kills other animals, and not the beast itself. They think that perhaps it’s saliva has strong immunity properties or some natural antibodies in it’s blood that could be harnessed for human health.

The wonders of nature often leave me speechless.