Members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) demonstrate their skills on motor-bikes during the BSF Golden Jubilee Day celebration in New Delhi on December 1, 2015. (Photo by Money Sharma/AFP Photo)

An Afghan boy looks through the scope of a toy gun, as other children ride on swings during the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan June 25, 2017. (Photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

An aerial view of lambs as General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises of Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry expects lamb births to increase in winter period, compared to previous years, in Karacabey facilities of Bursa, Turkiye on September 16, 2024. (Photo by Mustafa Yilmaz/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Lightning strikes above Perch Rock Lighthouse in Merseyside, North West England on August 10, 2020. (Photo by Bav Media/The Sun)

A baby Black-crowned Night Heron squawks in its incubator while being cared for at City Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Washington, DC on May 31, 2017. The heron is one of several that have been brought to CW by the staff at The National Zoo over the past few years. (Photo Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

People stand near beached sperm whales on January 13, 2016, after they became stranded on the Dutch island of Texel the day before. Five sperm whales which became stranded on Texel have died, officials said January 13. Experts said the beached whales had already been badly injured and their chances of survival were poor. Volunteers tried to save them but called off their efforts late in the night because of bad weather and darkness, ANP news agency said. (Photo by Remko de Waal/AFP Photo/ANP)

Pierre Thivillon (R), director of the zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine and his wife Eliane look at Digit, an 18-year-old female gorilla, on August 19, 2016, in Saint-Martin-La-Plaine between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, southeastern France. The zoological park of Saint-Martin-La-Plaine is a shelter for beasts seized by the justice. (Photo by Philippe Desmazes/AFP Photo)