now on bbc news, the travel show. this week, we're in cairo, as egypt's capital prepares to open the doors to the biggest archaeological museum in the world. it's fit for a king. the australian town taking its tourism up a gear. a fiery deseed dish tested by 60 years of political titans. how to fly without leaving the ground. and the african national park fighting back against poachers. i thought it would be this depleted park, in fact it is just teeming. but first today i am in alice springs, the red centre of australia's enormous and sparse northern territory. indigenous populations have lived here for thousands of years, and in the late 19th century, the town became an important stop on australia's

telegraph line connecting darwin and adelaide. if you drop the matter right in the middle of australia, you would probably learnt not to fire from this part right here. north about 1500 kilometres, you reach darwin, and over to the south, the same amount, you reach adelaide. and in that direction, as the crow flies, 2500 kilometres, or you reach sydney. the remoteness of the town means that it is not a common stock on the australian tourism trail. numbers far below those of rival towns in australia. between 2007 and 2013, visits by international tourists of the northern territory fell quite drastically year—on—year. pa rt

fell quite drastically year—on—year. part of that fightback is all to do with this. alice springs has launched a plan to turn itself into a world—class mountain biking park. the combination of beautiful landscapes and fantastic weather has made the trail is a favourite for yea rs, made the trail is a favourite for years, but they want to attract more international visitors. the territory hopes to bring in nearly 70 million dollars a year through biking tourism. clarke from outback cycling leads tours throughout the trails here. today is a particular hot day, about a0 degrees, the middle of the desert. why would anyone want to come out and try a mountain biking? well, in the winter the weather is absolutely perfect. so we don't have the storms, the rain, the cold, just beautiful 25 degrees days, really consistent weather. in the summer it is more

challenging, it gets more interesting. there are some of the best riding in australia is here. there is 200 kilometres of beautiful single track that you don't find anywhere else. and you see the future of mountain biking here? mountain biking is a key component of adventure tourism, and people are less certain tree and want to interact with them, experienced them in the trails themselves. there are lots of small trails and challenging rock gardens. and people can find these undiscovered mountain biking scenes. tourism bosses want alice springs to gain international mountain biking association ride centre status, and they have developed a five year master plan to try and achieve it. alongside mountain biking, the town is trying to reinvent itself for the tourist market. and helping tourists understand more about the unique outback environment is another way

the town is shaking up its image. the earth century was set up by a former neighbours star, and with his family he teaches visitors about the outback. what are we up to, what are we doing? i joined outback. what are we up to, what are we doing? ijoined dan to make some damper, along with their newly created here, the red centre devil. it is the first craft beer in central australia at the moment, also the only beer we have in central australia. so craft beer is becoming really popular around the world. the difference with this one as we have infused some of our beautiful fruits that grow on the property. they are called conlong is, really high in vitamin c. we collect the fruits and we can make chutney out of it, beautiful syrups which can go in deserts, and all sorts of stuff. pour your beer in there. the recipe for making damper

is incredibly simple. a bit of a yearin is incredibly simple. a bit of a year in first, self raising flour, and some raisins. as i needed it together, —— kneaded it together, i asked him about the history of the bread. as far as we are aware, the aboriginal people were the first people to make bread. it takes them a whole day to go out there and find the appropriate seeds, and obviously mellowed down and do this. there are stories that when the first europeans came up they had these bags of flour on horses, and the aboriginal man said you must have a lot of wives, just collecting the flour. it is easy for us to forget, oui’ flour. it is easy for us to forget, our financial transaction these days is money, but bartering with flour and sugar... having some tucker like thatis and sugar... having some tucker like that is the best thing to do. mine is not too far. it looks good. that is not too far. it looks good. that

is perfect. as long as there is enough flour. that is lovely, mate, well done. as minutes in the fire, the damper was ready to eat, and dan and his team prepared a feast of bush tuckerfor me and his team prepared a feast of bush tucker for me to eat including camel, kangaroo and crop. i have to say, it didn't taste half bad. what you do is you dip in as you have done there, dip it in the virgin olive oil and some wattle seed. that is fantastic, it is really good. olive oil and some wattle seed. that is fantastic, it is really goodm is fantastic, it is really goodm is lovely to be in a place like central australia, a very ancient environment, which can draw on the beautiful rare and exotic foods. it helps you along the way, and adds to the wonderful journey around helps you along the way, and adds to the wonderfuljourney around this great country. for sure, cheers. good on you, great effort. next up,

we visit a diner in washington dc which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, for a taste of their famous chilli half smoke. the owners have served generations of political heavyweights, including legendary civil rights activist martin luther king, who died 50 years ago this month. i am virginia, my husband and i opened ben's chilli bowl in 1968. located not so far from the white house. doctor martin luther king can you rather often whenever he was in town. the half smoke is our signature dish. it is also washington's signature dish. it is a brea kfast washington's signature dish. it is a breakfast sausage, accommodation of beef, pork and spices, and we dress it with our home—made spicy chilli sauce. we had a commercial here at

ben's chilli bowl many, many years ago, that said our chilli will make your hotdog bark. it has been a popular thing with us since 1958. this was a segregated city. we have such a wonderful community right here in washington. it was a place to go forjazz and to see live performances. this was a place to be. doctor king was a very, you know, distinguished, calm, soft—spoken gentleman. when he was assassinated, people were coming and crying. we turn on the radio to listen to the news, and the sadness kind of turned to anger. either following night, the rising was severe. ben's chilli bowl was the only place allowed to remain open during a three night curfew, and

that provided a place for first responders, for the police department, for a city officials, to come and find a way to quell the violence that was occurring. i think we we re violence that was occurring. i think we were chosen because we had been kind of a favourite in the community, and it's kind of been the place to come to if you want diversity. we have everybody here. it is typical washington. look at that. all the way from germany. isn't that cool? so president 0bama's visit, he came as president—elect. it was just a couple of weeks before his inauguration. of course, he had the chilli half smoke. he had no grey hair back then, in that photo. i'm proud to have been able to remain here for so long. i'm grateful to this town, and i'm grateful that,

you know, it has been a wonderful, warm experience. still to come here on the travel show: we will pay a visit to the african park bringing back its elephants. the travel show. your essential guide, wherever you are headed. time now for trending travel, your monthly mash up of the best travel related stories, snaps and videos online. if your favourite pa rt and videos online. if your favourite part of a holiday is the flight, then this japanese company claimed to have the experience for you. first airlines in tokyo offer their customers virtual reality flights, simulating trips to the likes of

rome, paris and new york. they even provide an in—flight meal, and the choice of standard or business class. clocking in at a supersonic two hours, it is for people who want the thrill of travelling without the hassle of a long flight. in australia, tourists and locals alike can now find out about melbourne's indigenous history with an hour. melbourne dreaming helps users take a self—guided tour around the city, with travel info and audio narration, telling the hidden stories behind popular visitor destinations like port phillip bay. graffiti artists, throw down your spray cans and pick up your knitting needles. la street artist london k has been tagging the world with her young bombs, including this recent creation. these crocheted works of art have been shed on london's instagram feed. we asked what the reaction has been like, and whether

she has been hassled by the fathers. i have put up over 500 young bombs, and maybe twice i have got in trouble. so i think that is a pretty good run. as long as you ask the mission and do —— don't do it on somebody‘s a particular property, you should be fine. i have travelled to rome, to london, pretty much all over the world. and your search for the ultimate instagram a bull beverage has come to an end. this is the selfieccino. visitors send their selfie to a machine which takes their picture. it is apparently a first for europe, but the idea has gone viral since the launch of selfie cafes across asia. thanks to

eve ryo ne selfie cafes across asia. thanks to everyone who sent us their pictures this month using the hashtag travel tuesday. here are some of my favourites. iq shed this foggy, atmospheric snap from west bengal in india. while richard posted these pictures from the banksy hotel in bethlehem after it opened last year. now let's look at the travel videos clocking up the views online. this year, poland celebrates 100 years of independence. so we are some top travel filmmakers to share their experiences of the country. i've been travelling to poland for the last 1a years. i definitely had time to observe some of the country's complexities, and its natural beauty.

irememberall i remember all these super early mornings in pursuit of these perfect lights in perfect locations, and i remember, like, waking up at aam or sometimes even 3am, just shooting for five minutes and getting all these perfect colours that you have injusta these perfect colours that you have injust a brief moment of these perfect colours that you have in just a brief moment of the these perfect colours that you have injust a brief moment of the day. and if you see anything you think we should know about, don't forget to get in touch. it is: finally this week, michelle is in zakouma finally this week, michelle is in za kouma national party finally this week, michelle is in zakouma national party in chad. 0ver recent years the area has experienced war, crime and terrorism. tourists have been warned away but another thread has been to its wildlife, who has suffered severe poaching. but for the

animals, things may bejust looking up. seeing an abundance of wildlife like this in an african park and you might think of botswana, kenya or half a dozen other places before you think of chad. but there is spectacular wildlife here. and lots of it. i've come to find out how the population of elephants and other animals in the park have rebounded in recent years to rival even the finest national parks on the continent. this depleted park has suffered so

badly at the hands of poachers, but in fact it is just teaming. the reason for this turnaround has been largely credited to a private non—profit organisation based in johannesburg called african parks who took over the management off 180 yea rs who took over the management off 180 years ago. it came at a time when its elephant population had been hit ha rd by its elephant population had been hit hard by poaching. in 2000 to the park was home to more than a000 elephants but in 2010 that number had plummeted to a50. experts feared zakouma's remaining elephants could have been gone in a few years. but thanks to new strategies to protect the elephants, their numbers have increased to over 500. african parks protects 15 areas in nine countries across the continent. this is the

operation centre and this is the heart of za kouma. operation centre and this is the heart of zakouma. if you zoom out and we can count all of these colours, i know we've got 18 females and 11 ball collars in this group, and 11 ball collars in this group, and that's the big herd of elephant, about 500 elephant. i also know we have a ball there, able there, that way you they know what is happening. 0ne way you they know what is happening. one of the strategies being implemented is close contact with the local communities, who are given radios as part of an early warning system for when poachers approach. any sign of poachers around the park is immediately responded to by a skilled force of armed rangers. so far, these highly disciplined, tough tactics have been working. we've not had anybody inside the park since

last year, may, when a group of four people with seven camels entered the park. we rushed in there, stop these quys park. we rushed in there, stop these guys and it was just a bunch of herders that got lost. but even with su ccesses , herders that got lost. but even with successes, some critics of this sort of approach is still argue the benefits of local management and caution against the risks of such a heavily armed show of force. we do wedoa we doa15 we do a 15 kilometre group march... leon invites me to see the rangers at work in the field. we've got these six teams at any given time, today we've got four horse teams, two mambo teams, member teams are rapid reaction teams. these teams are on vehicle patrol now, moving from point a to point b where there's a number of elephant bulls at the moment. they're always supported by a large machine—gun.

these guys are so sufficient for ten days. the work can be dangerous. in 2012 six rangers lost their lives to poachers in an ambush. for those protecting the park today, it is work they are proud of. many governments currently caution against travel to this region. but despite the risks, some tourists are starting to come here on safari with the money generated funding a third of the park's costs. for now, at least, the wildlife here seems safe and the area of zakouma and the african parks detection has and the african parks detection has a good outlook. the animal numbers are increasing. in particular, the elephants. symbols of zakouma's

remarkable turnaround and offering hope for further conservation across the continent. well, that's all we have for this week but coming up next: christa larwood week but coming up next: christa la rwood takes to week but coming up next: christa larwood takes to the seas for a sneak preview of the world's largest cruise ship. there's always romance about going to see because it's an amazing thing to field the ship under your feet. that was amazing. don't forget you canjoin us on all our that was amazing. don't forget you can join us on all our travels wherever we are in the world by following our social media feeds. all of the details are on your screens now. but from me, henry golding, and the rest of the travel show team, from alice springs, goodbye. well, thursday was a really

disappointing day across so many parts of the country. five degrees, for example, in sheffield, really cloudy skies and we saw scenes like this, a picture from leicester, but beautiful weather too yesterday. lovely highland picture here of some flowers. let's have a look at the forecast for the early hours of friday then, still some rain and drizzle around low, grey cloud shrouding the hilltops of the pennines, really unpleasant conditions out there through the course of the night. so clear in the far north of scotland and the temperatures wherever you are in the far north or south, not really that different, seven in plymouth, around six degrees expected in edinburgh. the forecast for friday itself, and we're expecting some of that grey, damp weather to eventually clear away, and for most of us it's a case of cloudy skies through much

of the morning and much of the afternoon as well, but in the south it looks as though some of those clouds will be breaking up a little bit so i think there will be some sunshine on the way i think later in the day for london, cardiff, possibly for birmingham and norwich as well. 1a tomorrow in london, still chilly in the north, only seven in aberdeen and nine in the lowlands of scotland. that was friday, how about the weekend ? it looks as though things are going to be warming up, quite a bit of bright weather around but we are also expecting heavy showers to develop in one or two areas, so not a completely dry weekend. let's look at saturday's weather forecast, starts really bright across most of the uk and the chances are there will be one or two showers breaking out across southern areas, so be prepared for the odd downpour. but for most of us across the country it's going to be a dry, bright day with temperatures up to 17 in the south. then saturday night into sunday, this low pressure swings in off the atlantic and increases the winds across western areas of the uk,

really gusty conditions, and it's also going to bring some cloud and rain for south—western parts of england, for wales, northern ireland and western scotland. the east, think, on sunday, should just about stay dry and in fact here those temperatures will start to rise and you'll particularly notice those temperatures rising on the north sea coast, look at that, 1a expected in newcastle. into early next week, into midweek, we'll start to see warm air coming out of the south, turning hot across france and potentially quite hot in the south of the uk and here's an outlook. say, for example, in london, i suspect some time next week temperatures could peak at around 2a, cardiff will be around 20 or so and even further north those temperatures will rise. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: tensions are mounting about possible us military action in syria. jets and warships are moved into place, but president trump adopts a less bullish tone. we're looking very, very seriously, very closely, at that whole situation. and we'll see what happens, folks,

we'll see what happens. moscow warns any military action could risk war between russia and the us. mike pompeo is grilled by senators at his confirmation hearing. the man who wants to be america's new top diplomat denies he is a war hawk. is the us headed for agricultural boom or bust? as president trump tries to sow confidence about his trade policies, farmers are uncertain.