A dad told his daughter he was on an expedition in Africa - but was actually self-isolating in a campervan outside his house in Wales.
Professor Julian Bayliss had been in the campervan, which is 300 metres away from his home, for 14 days.
But the award-winning conservationist and explorer from Wrexham, North Wales, was telling his four-year-old daughter Poppy on Skype he was thousands of miles away.
He told her the white lie so she wouldn’t get upset about not seeing him.
The butterfly expert, 50, returned home from Ethiopia and began suffering mild symptoms of coronavirus, NorthWalesLive reports.
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In an interview with the BBC, he said Poppy was too young to understand, so he told her he was still in Africa.
But he was finally reunited with his daughter on Thursday.
In a heartwarming reunion, Poppy was filmed running into her dad’s arms, shouting “daddy” as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
In the video, he said: “I’ve missed you,” before she replied: “Daddy, I’ve been waiting for you.”
Speaking to the BBC during self-isolation, Dr Bayliss, who has worked extensively in Africa, told how his mum brought him lunch every day, and how he used a drone to keep an eye on Poppy and her mum, Malaika Sacranie.
He said: "Well the reason I'm here is because of the coronavirus, the Covid-19 crisis.”
"You can see what my living accommodation shapes up too.
"I've pretty much got everything I need, except my family of course."
In a video diary, he showed his set up including his bed, a fire pit, a self-made toilet around the camper van, whilst he was isolated from his family.
In the video, as his mum arrived, he said: "I'm quite fortunate that most lunchtimes my dear mother comes down with some soup.
“Here she is.
“She can't get close, we can't get close.
"She puts it on the wall over there. She still wants to look after me which is lovely."
And he revealed how his daughter wasn't sure of where he was.
When asked, Poppy replies: "Erm, don't know."
Dr Bayliss adds: "I don't think she'd really understand.
"She'd want to come to me and obviously I'd want to go to her and we wouldn't be able to do that.
"And it would probably be a lot more upsetting, a lot more stressful."
