THE TAJ INSIDE-OUT

Nobody will be seeing the Taj Mahal while the two metres of distance rule is in place as this World Wonder on the banks of the Yamuna River normally welcomes 4,000 visitors a day. But you’ll have no such worries on this awesome 360 degree aerial tour of the marble mausoleum, built by Moghul Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, so beautiful it made ‘the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes’.

The footage provides sweeping views over its domes and slender minarets, skimming over ornamental gardens and reflecting pools and swooping along pathways at people level to enter its cool, dark temples. Zoom in for a fascinating flyover of ramshackle Agra city. The Airpano site offers similarly sensational picture tours to every major landmark on the planet.

WALK CHINA’S GREAT WALL IN SLIPPERS

We can’t offer you the whole 21,000 kilometres but you won’t need your hiking boots. You can stroll along one of the most scenic stretches of this architectural world wonder without stirring from the sofa or changing your footwear. The China Guide offers a virtual tour along the 7km section between Jinshanling and Simatai, where you can click through to ‘walk’ the path or take in dizzying 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape. Why not watch it from your cross trainer and turn this awesome virtual workout into a real one.

GORILLA ACTION LIVE

Delayed by political unrest and the Ebola outbreak, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Grace Centre for Gorilla Rehabilitation went live stream last autumn, permitting privileged glimpses into the private lives of its resident eastern lowland gorillas. Three fixed cameras allow you to get up close and personal with this critically endangered species as families play, eat, sleep and explore the lush hillside corridor connecting their nocturnal quarters to their open forest habitat.

Peak viewing times are narrow but you can rewind the feed to see what you’ve missed. The cams are showcased on explore.org, a philanthropic multimedia organisation that sponsors the largest live nature network on the planet. With 200 wildlife cameras around the globe you’ll never be bored.

GEYSER GAZING IN YELLOWSTONE

The National Park may be closed but you can still watch the live action from one of the most dynamic places on earth. Yellowstone is home to 500 active geysers including its celebrity gusher, Old Faithful, which has been guaranteed to erupt every 44 minutes to two hours since 2000.

The park has a live webcam trained on Old Faithful and eight static cams capturing video of other explosive happenings in the Upper Geyser Basin, updated every 30 seconds. From the same site you can visit the craggy canyons, subalpine forests and prismatic hot springs of America’s first national park (since 1872) on video and watch regular live feeds, most recently dramatic footage of a wolf pack hunt.

SOUTH AFRICA SURFING SAFARI

You don’t have to live in a penthouse beside Selwo Safari Park to see lions and leopards drinking at the waterhole from your front room. You can watch live footage streamed from thousands of miles away in wild South African bush country where anything can happen, especially when predators are gathered at the same drinking joint. This site has six live cams capturing footage from different parks and you’ll be perfectly safe from the nice big pussycats  Keep the sound turned up for an out-of-Africa chorus of snorts, grunts, growls and chirrups. If there’s nothing doing at the waterhole when you log on no worries, you can sign up for live wildlife alerts and, while you’re waiting, enjoy videos the site prepared earlier.

TIMES SQUARE ON LOCKDOWN

If you want to snoop on who’s out and about in New York City when they shouldn’t be, Earth Cam’s live feed from Times Square will keep you posted. Currently it’s pretty deserted as Big Apple residents are under house arrest but we did spot a panic buyer pushing a trolley full of goodies along the pavement when we checked in! It’s among reams of fly-on-the-wall footage you can find on EarthCam, the world’s leading provider of webcam content opening a virtual window on landmarks around the world. Check out the Abbey Road zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles and catch exclusive views from the Statue of Liberty’s Torch Balcony, closed to the public since 1916.

A DAY AT SAN DIEGO ZOO

KEEPING the kids occupied during weeks of self-isolation is a mental challenge for any parent, even those not trying to work from home, but California’s San Diego Zoo can still give them a cracking virtual day out. The website has a camera spy posted in 11 of its enclosures giving the little ones a glimpse into the daily lives of penguins and orang-utans, giraffes, baboons and cuddly koalas (although they don’t do much but sleep). Polar bears, tigers, elephants and giant pandas offer other enchanting close encounters and, if they’re all having a snooze, you can watch videos and read up on some of the zoo’s other stars, like the Sloth Bear Brothers. You won’t hear a peep out of your offspring for hours and think how much you’ll save on ice creams and monkey nuts.

GET INTO THE PRADO FREE

Madrid is not a place anyone wants to be right now but you can still do its famous Prado Museum without breaking State of Emergency laws. Spain’s premier cultural attraction houses over 7,000 works amassed by Spanish royalty over more than five centuries – and it will take more than a virus to keep them hidden from view. You can catch a different one-hour tour posted live every morning at 10.00 on Facebook or explore the collections in a series of nine award-winning video tours through the magnificent 18th century building. Highlights include Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and Velázquez’ Las Meninas and you can spend hours poring over masterpieces by all the major maestros – Goya, El Greco, Rembrandt, Rubens et al.

SEMANA SANTA ON THE SOFA

Easter is cancelled – whoever thought the day would come – and there will be no hooded penitents and golden thrones processing through Sevilla’s orange blossom streets this year. If this is leaving a spiritual hole in your life you can relive highlights from last year’s spectacle moment by moment in a four-hour video stream from Canal Cofrade Television. ‘Coronavirus has taken away the dream of celebrating Our Holy Week,’ says the web TV channel run by the city’s religious Brotherhoods. ‘But we hope you can enjoy remembering moments from 2019 in your homes.

WORDS BELINDA BECKETT

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