final preparations are underway ahead of saturday's funeral of the duke of edinburgh. the ceremony at st george's chapel will be attended by a small group of close family and friends. many aspects of the funeral, including the music, were planned in advance by prince philip himself. russia is expelling ten us diplomats and blacklisting eight top american officials in response to sanctions imposed by washington on thursday. russia's foreign minister said moscow was also tightening restrictions on us diplomats travelling within russia. a weekend curfew has come into force in the indian capital, delhi, as coronavirus cases rise sharply in the city and across the country. only essential services remain open. shopping malls, gyms, bars and restaurants in the capital are all closed. delhi is now india's worst affected city.

but first on bbc news, the travel show. from the biggest natural structure on earth... wow, it's incredible down there! ..to the slopes of europe's most active volcano. there's been an earthquake on the south side of etna. siren. e la sirena! and from the blustery english channel... horn blasts. ..to zimba bwe�*s incredible wildlife. are we are ok with them being that close? welcome to our favourite adventures from the great outdoors! hey, and welcome to kas, not too far from antalya on the south turkish coast.

it's beautiful here and a great spot for adventure as well as to get some fresh air — which is appropriate for today's programme because we're revisiting some of our favourite memories of the great outdoors. and what better place to start than one of the biggest and most fragile ecosystems on the entire planet? australia's great barrier reef is enormous. and you can see it from space. around 10% of all fish species live here. as a diver, there aren't many places that can beat it. due to increased water temperatures, there's been several mass bleaching events here on the great barrier reef, 2016 and 2017 especially.

couple that with a severe tropical cyclone and up to 80% of the reef was affected. for myself, an ocean lover, it's very worrying. but there are stretches, like here on the southern part, that still thrive. schools of fish, rays, sharks and turtles are all abundant. i'm here to meet some of the people who have devoted their lives to keeping it that way. so, andy, exactly how big is the great barrier reef? it's immense. it's about the same surface area as germany. 2,300 kilometres in length, thousands of reefs, hundreds of islands, massive. it sounds massive. it must be hard to survey the entire thing, then. they reckon that 40% of the reef hasn't been surveyed. that much? so from a conservation perspective, it's massive. imagine the logistics you would require to do the whole reef, it would be immense. andy is the brains behind earth hour, that 60 minutes

every year when businesses and landmarks turn off their lights to raise awareness of climate change. here we are. now, though, he's turned his attention to the reef and is convinced education is the key to its survival. what i'm going to show you now is reef tracks, which is something we've already launched and is starting to show the animals that have got satellite tags that are out on the reef. wow, yeah, yeah. this is a... green turtle? yeah, green turtle, tiger sharks, whale shark. this is about to show you a whale shark. this is the first whale shark that's ever been tagged on the great barrier reef. it lost its tag after about 4,000 kilometres, but it went all the way up the reef and then out into the coral sea and then up into the solomon sea. the idea is to make people

all over the world feel more attached to the reef and more fired up about protecting it. but the project he's hoping to launch next is even more ambitious, and aims to give tourists here a proper role in data collection. we call it the great reef census. the idea is to try and do a state of the reef survey in a really short period of time. so if you imagine that every tourism boat becomes a research boat for that period of time. and anybody who is a professional snorkeller, who is out on those boats, can become part of this project. so that's kind of in the water piece. but then beyond that, the citizens' science. where the citizens' science really kicks in is in the analysis. so you have the shot of a piece of reef. it's geo—tagged so you know where it is, and then you can be sitting in your bedroom in amsterdam or your office in london, and you can be part of the analysis. it's a really ambitious project. it's not been done before like this or on this scale.

save some fun for me! collecting information is one thing, but there's been a significant breakthrough this year that has seen new life brought back to dead and dying reefs. one night a year, the coral simultaneously released millions of eggs and sperm into the waters. it looks like a massive underwater snowstorm. professor harrison has set about capturing that spawn and relocating it to areas that need it most. what's the plan? 0k, what we're going to do, is i'm going to ask you to take these callipers and just go down and measure the coral. he measures the new coral regularly and has found that it's been thriving, but he's also found that after three years, it's sexually reproductive, triggering a domino effect of regeneration. tell us a little bit about the breakthrough you've made. what we've been doing is some really exciting research.

one of the innovations we've just trialled in the philippines is using an underwater robot, which we called the larvalbot. it's helping us deliver literally millions of coral larvae onto really degraded reef systems, and the really exciting news is that we've got to hectare scales, which means we can start to think about large—scale restoration using this larval technique on reefs all around the world, including the great barrier reef. this is just part of the solution. we have to restore coral populations, but we also have to manage climate change. australia's great barrier reef. since this was filmed, actually, professor harrison's work has spread farther north to the whitsunday islands, which is great for him. so let's wish him good luck with that. coming up next this week, we're returning to europe and to one of nature's most powerful and frightening forces — volcanoes.

this year's been a busy one for the people whose job it is to monitor mount etna. the sicilian volcano has been erupting regularly since mid—february. back in 2019, we went along to meet some of the people living and working on her slopes. there's been an earthquake on the south side of etna. e la sirena, ecco! ho detto che sarebbe tornato. in one of the most volcanic regions in europe, an earthquake is detected. it could indicate devastating activity on the continent's largest volcano. but still, on etna,

tourists gather unaware. right now we are 9,000 feet above the sea level, the highest you can get when you come to mount etna. what we are looking at is the south—east crater, the baby. it's the newest, 1971, but it's also considered the most dangerous of all because in this moment, it's becoming — how to say? — hyperactive. the recent catastrophic eruption on new zealand's white island which killed 20 and injured a further 27 has highlighted the risk of visiting active volcanoes. but in coming here, i have been told by many people that this volcano is perfectly safe. etna certainly has one of the most sophisticated monitoring surveillance systems on earth. you have instruments that record any sort of ground vibration, then we measure gas emission and then magnetism and gravity and infra—sound,

which are acoustic signals at very low frequencies that we cannot hear, and then obviously there is a great need for monitoring of volcanic ash emissions. we have surveillance cameras, we have thermal cameras, we have computer stimulations, so this is being done virtually all the time. and i still left out a few things. but for the people here, etna is much more than just data. they call her mamma, and she is a constant companion. in 1669, the lava flow in six months covered a distance of 45 miles. it covered little villages such as nicolosi. if you look around, you can see old flows, late 1800s. you see the lava flow

of 1983 and you can get into people's experience. there is no universal system to tell you the chances

of an eruption. each place has its own, and fortunately, in etna's case, the lava moves very slowly. etna has killed no more than 77 people in the last 2,700 years. so here's the thing. intense local monitoring and strong regulation can protect people but by visiting, you put your trust in others and individual tour operators. what you can do is research what's happening at your volcano to help you understand the risks. that's simon platts at mount etna on sicily. still to come... ade�*s nerves of steel in zimbabwe. that's the female? that's the female standing up. she's massive! and how to get yourself

up a mast in a hurry. it's amazing. it's like you're a bird. you can see everything. so don't go away. welcome back to the beautiful little town of kas on the south coast of turkey. but, actually, we're going to zimbabwe next — all the way back to 2015 when ade was there in search for lions. he ended up meeting up with a breeding programme that returns the lions the wild in hopes of restoring their numbers — and he ended up getting really, really close. now i've come to the lion encounter programme, which is right next to victoria falls in zimbabwe, because they say they're doing important work here trying to rebuil the lion population in africa. lions in the wild are in quite a dire circumstance. their populations are decreasing at a rapid rate. figures from 1970 — 250,000 lions. figures from 2002 — 28,000.

so we're looking at a huge population decrease in 32 years — half a human life span. so it's a massive decrease. the project is split between two countries — zimbabwe and zambia. here in zimbabwe, lion cubs that have been born in captivity are taken in and cared for, and then released into vast fenced—off game reserves — either here or over the border in zambia — where they form a pride and learn to fend for themselves. once these lions breed, the plan is to transfer their cubs out into the wild. but getting those lions born in captivity used to the bush is the first step on a long journey. what one would experience at lion encounter in victoria falls is all part of what we call stage one. it's where lions — captive lions — are introduced into the natural environment. that's the whole reason for our work. so, we take them out three

times, four times a day, regardless of whether there are paying visitors getting involved or anything out there, the whole aim is to get them out into their natural environment. and they experience — they learn stuff. although interaction with humans is kept to a minimum, the project does give you a chance to get close to the lions while they are still relatively young. these ones are just 12 months old. are we ok with them being that close? absolutely, absolutely. that's the female? that's the female standing up. she is massive! she is more like investigating us. if you check, she has been constantly looking at you. because now she might be interested in this wheelchair, which is a very good sign to us — that whatever surrounds them, they are always investigating. you can even see that with the boy, his mane is developing. yeah. hey, cubs. how are you? zulu and pendu are brother and sister, and they have formed a special bond

with their keeper, musa. but it's a bond that eventually will have to be broken if these lions are to learn to fend for themselves. they're so comfortable with you. that is just... it's just beautiful. you're the captain at the moment. at the moment i'm the captain! in around eight months, it will be too dangerous to walk with zulu and pendu. so i'm lucky to get a chance to do it now. the symbol of the lion is across the world. i mean, you ask anybody around the world. a ten—year—old canadian boy, or a ten—year—old russian boy, or an australian boy, what is a lion, they will give you some kind of description. itjust has that impact on the world. everyone knows what it is. so to lose it in its wild existence, it would be

a massive loss. it's only when you see a lion feeding that you get an idea — or you start understand — just how powerful they are. i mean, it's so impressive. and that lion is only three years old! those are memories of ade�*s trip to southern africa back in 2015. now for something completely different — the busy english channel. the tenacious is the first tall ship in the world to be fully adapted for a disabled crew. it's run by thejubilee sailing trust, which claims that its adventures can provide life—changing experiences for people with all different kinds of abilities. we sent alex taylor to check it out and we catch up with him early in the morning after his first bumpy night at sea. hello. how are you feeling? good, thank you. i'm going back to bed now.

after a stormy and pretty sleepless night at the sea, it's time for breakfast with my shipmates in the mess. it's called happy hour, where everyone works hard, washes and makes everything spick—and—span, except i've lost my team and what i'm meant to be doing. many years ago, we had a young lad come on lord nelson and he had multiple sclerosis and he didn't get out of the car, he was helped out the car by his mother and father, popped in the wheelchair and we pulled him up the gangway. after two weeks on here, he walked off the ship without the sticks, didn't want his chair, and his mother and father

couldn't believe it. and that's why we run it. that's why we do what we do. 0n the final day, the beautiful weather gave me the chance to do something that i've been looking forward to but also secretly dreading. climbing the ship's mast. luckily, i'm not going first, though. it's kind of amazing. in fact, it is mad. oh, god. for some of the folk who don't quite get what we do to start with, this is the point where generally they all get it. oh, my god, you were amazing.

how do you feel? 0h, great! were you scared? no. you're amazing. right, you're definitely going to be the best at this, alex. because you have seen it like five times now. am i? well, i'm glad you have confidence. ifeel like i am dancing here. he's not dancing back, i don't think he's interested. i'm excited now, i want to get it done. i say that now, though. i mean, once i'm halfway up, i might change my mind. this is a handle. you're going to have to grip towards you, 0k? and basically, it slides up the rope but when you pull down, it grips and it will pull. grip! heave!

i'm stuck! 0h, here we go. cheering and applause. i can't really explain it. it's hard to get up there but once you're up there, my god, it's amazing, it's like you're a bird. you can see everything. it's weightlessness, as well, so you're just free, and i've never had that, ever. and it's really, really high — just to make that point clear. it's very high. but it's very nice. i didn't want to come down, but it was beautiful. you want to do it again? i'll go again now, you guys? yeah, is that all right, yeah?

after almost a week at sea, finally land is in sight. 0ur destination, poole harbour. we can see land. i miss land quite a bit. overall, though, it's been... actually been amazing. it's been hard, as i keep saying, but it's been worth it. as a person who's in a chair, especially in my case, it's often quite hard to explore. as a kid, i kind of had to ask other people for that help and you kind of have to imagine things and that's why i would write books and things, or read books and have ideas. i couldn't really do it, so i had to write it. but in here, it's quite nice because you actually go on board and you get to do that stuff and go on the seas which is lovely. i've been up a mast which i don't do every day so that was actually amazing, really. i've never, ever thought i could do that.

that's alex taylor having occasional bursts of fun on board the tenacious well, that's all for this week. but coming up next week... ade�*s back, looking at another big issue in travel — this time revealing some of the inner workings of how travel�*s been made affordable. and the story behind those complicated covid—19 refunds. remember, you can watch all of our recent episodes on the bbc iplayer, and we're on all the regula social—media platforms, too, so make sure to check us out there. but for now — from me, mike corey, here in kas, turkey — keep planning those next adventures and hopefully we'll see you back on the road again very, very soon. goodbye.

hello there. friday was another fine spring day, and we're going to continue with this dry theme throughout the weekend and perhaps into monday as well. some chilly mornings, yes, but it's not going to be quite as cold overnight nor during the day as it has been of late. we had some patchy cloud bubble up on friday, but the thicker cloud was towards the north—west of the uk and that brought rain in the north—west of scotland. that is fading away, mind you. the next weather system is going to be hanging out in the atlantic and we'll be dominated by high pressure that stretches down from scandinavia. it will be another cold start. a frost across parts of england and wales and eastern parts of scotland. a bit milder for north—west scotland and northern ireland, where we've got more of a breeze and some cloud for awhile. sunny start for many, any mist and fog soon lifting. some patchy cloud will bubble up here and there, but i think it will be a sunnier day on saturday

through the midlands and eastern parts of england. and for much of the country temperatures will be a degree or two higher than they were doing yesterday, so making 1a to 15 degrees maybe a little bit more widely. into the evening and overnight, those temperatures will fall away quickly as skies start to clear, except in northern ireland and western scotland, where the weather fronts in the atlantic are moving in here to bring patchy rain and they keep the temperatures up. 0therwise some patchy frost, but not as cold as it has been during recent mornings. that weather front, then, hanging around out in the north—west, bringing a bit of a change in the weather for some spots of scotland and northern ireland. but for england and wales, it remains fine and dry. it looks like it'll be cloudy with patchy and mostly light rain for northern ireland and now it is more likely to be damp across western scotland. further east, it's going to be dry and bright with sunshine, and sunshine for england and wales. patchy cloud for wales and the south—west, and sunshine a bit hazy in eastern parts of england. through the midlands and eastern england, temperatures looking to reach 1a or 15 degrees, so it is warming up for these areas in particular. into monday, this rainjust doesn't want to move in across the uk.

it's going to be sitting away from scotland so it looks dry here on monday. there'll be more sunshine across england and wales as well and those temperatures continuing to rise — up to around 16 or even 17 degrees, so it's warming up at long last. however, whilst we might see a little bit of rain coming in on tuesday into early wednesday, the winds then turn northerly by midweek and it gets colder again.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with me, charlie stayt, inside the grounds of windsor castle, where today the queen will lead the royal family and the nation in mourning at the funeral of prince philip, the duke of edinburgh. a cherished moment during 73 years of marriage. the service will pay tribute to prince philip's unwavering loyalty to the queen. many aspects of the ceremony were planned by the duke with military precision. the selection of which units, which bands, which music, which medals will be there, so it is very much his funeral, designed by him.

a cherished moment during 73 years of marriage.