Incredible before and after pictures of Calais Jungle reveal the devastation left after removal of 6,000 migrant squatters
TODAY the camp, once home to 10,000 people, lies empty after authorities spent this week closing it down
AT its peak the Jungle migrant camp in Calais had an estimated population of 10,000 and comprised thousands of makeshift tents.
Today, as these aerial images reveal, the site lies in ruins - with only the debris and dwellings not burned in this week's upheaval left behind.
The massive undertaking of emptying the sprawling shantytown was carried out by French authorities this week.
Battling fires, disorder and violence, they have managed to remove some 6,000 migrants who were living in the area, hoping to board lorries bound for Britain.
More are likely to be removed this week, with French politicians claiming the site will be closed and emptied by Monday.
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Photographs taken in August, September and earlier this month show just how full the camp was - compared to the barren landscape seen today.
Meanwhile, the number of UK-bound migrants sleeping in illegal camps in Paris has increased by a third since the destruction of the Jungle.
It raises the prospect of the French capital turning into the new hub for thousands of asylum seekers seeking a new life in Britain.
Paris's first official refugee camp is due to open within the next few days, and it is expected to become a magnet for even more refugees.
The new facility will be men only, and only take 400 migrants at a time. Even then, they will only be able to stay for a maximum of ten weeks at a time.
It will open close to the Gare du Nord Eurostar hub, from where high speed trains travel to and from London.
A total of 5,596 people have been evacuated since the operation to raze the Jungle shantytown in Calais began on Monday morning.
While most have been bused to some 450 resettlement centres around France, up to 5,000 more are thought to have travelled away independently.
Heloise Mary, a member of France’s office for the welcome and accompaniment of migrants, said numbers in Paris had shot up.
Referring to a camp close to the Stalingrad Metro in the north of Paris, she told the BFM news channel: "We've gone from two thousand to three thousand in two days with the closure of Calais."
Regular train services from Calais to Paris take just over two hours, while it is relatively easy to get lifts in cars and lorries too.
Today there were plenty of Calais migrants on board the Paris trains, and they said they would stay there while working out how to get to Britain as quickly as possible.
"Big cities like Paris are a good place to wait," said Aamir, a 22-year-old originally from Kandahar in Afghanistan.
"There is food and warmth, and there are more camps being setup. We can stay there, and then get aboard lorries heading for Britain.
"We do not have a chance in Calais at the moment, so Paris is the best option. We will be fine there."
A Paris police source confirmed that illegal camps closed by court order in recent months were springing up again.
"Tents and huts are set up overnight, and then hundreds of people are sleeping rough in a matter of days," he said.
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