--- description: Good news: brown bears are returning to the area, too title: Chernobyl: See It Through the Eyes of a Drone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aee2641b5de24d1/69876b7bf887dc6af8e88aa0/chernobyl-drone.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Drone Footage Explore Chernobyl From Above for the First Time  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2014 4:05 PM CUT   by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2014 4:05 PM CUT Areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 are still frozen in time, [as haunting drone footage](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/29/chernobyl-desolation-camera-drone "undefined") of the empty city of Pripyat reveals. The scenes of rusted ferris wheels and abandoned buildings, shot by British filmmaker Danny Cooke for a CBS _60 Minutes_ segment that aired last week, mark the first time Chernobyl has been seen by air, _The Guardian_ reports. “Chernobyl is one of the most interesting and dangerous places I’ve been,” Cooke said. “There was something serene, yet highly disturbing about this place. Time has stood still and there are memories of past happenings floating around us.” Some things are changing in Chernobyl, however: Scientists have observed what they believe is the first evidence of [brown bears in the area in more than a century](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30197341 "undefined"). Though researchers had previously suspected that the bears had returned, cameras set up in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone actually caught a bear on video, the BBC reports. “There have been suggestions that they have existed there previously but, as far as we know, no-one has got photographic evidence of one being present on the Ukrainian side of the exclusion zone,” said Mike Wood of the University of Salford. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/29/chernobyl-desolation-camera-drone "undefined")\] \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30197341 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3610836/chernobyl-drone-video-brown-bear/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3610836/chernobyl-drone-video-brown-bear/"},"headline":"Watch Drone Footage Explore Chernobyl From Above for the First Time","datePublished":"2014-11-30T16:05:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:27:11.983Z","description":"The good news: brown bears are returning to the area","url":"https://time.com/3610836/chernobyl-drone-video-brown-bear/","keywords":["Ukraine","animals","Drones","Chernobyl"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aee2641b5de24d1/69876b7bf887dc6af8e88aa0/chernobyl-drone.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aee2641b5de24d1/69876b7bf887dc6af8e88aa0/chernobyl-drone.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"chernobyl-drone","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3610836/chernobyl-drone-video-brown-bear/","name":"Watch Drone Footage Explore Chernobyl From Above for the First Time"}}]}] ```