this is bbc news. the headlines: the extreme heatwave across southern europe, is continuing to intensify. wildfires have now spread to the coast of croatia and the greek island of crete where they have caused widespread destruction. in spain and portugal, over 300 people are thought to have died from the heat. moscow has ordered its military to step up the offensive in ukraine, as russian missiles continue to strike cities, across the country. an official statement said their aim is to prevent strikes by ukrainian forces on eastern regions no longer controlled by kyiv. president biden has ended his visit to the middle east with a promise that america is committed to remaining fully engaged in the region.

mr biden has been trying to persuade gulf states to boost oil production to help lower global prices. saudi arabia says oil wasn't specifically discussed. now on bbc news, this travel show. this week on the show... on board the world's biggest civilian hospital ship. where would you like to go, do you have any ideas? aruba. 0h, nice, aruba! i like that. greening up your trip while staying in the black. affordable travel is definitely green travel. and building a record breaker in the himalayas. when covid swept the world back in 2020, shutting borders

and grounding flights, holiday—makers weren't the only travellers to be stuck at home. many overseas volunteering projects were also locked down. in fact, voluntourism provider projects abroad say numbers will not be back to normal until 202a. but moored in the harbour of senegal�*s capital dakar could be just the thing to kick—start the sector once more. so this is global mercy. 0h, mind the step. it is only a couple of months old — as you can see, it is still sparkling and new, it is manned completely by volunteers who give up their home comforts to come here.

the wards are empty right now, but in a few months' time, they will start filling up with senegalese patients coming on board for routine operations. the aim is to transform 150,000 lives around the world through surgery, and train thousands of new medics. ifeel like i am in a hospital, but... ok, i think we can go this way. but it is strange because when you are walking on the floor, of course we are not on land, and you get the odd movement every so often. 0k, we have to be a little bit quiet. they are currently doing a neonatal resuscitation workshop. the ship is run by a christian charity, and is part of a long tradition of volunteering

by religious groups. in the islamic world for example, you have the mission possible scheme run by islamic help, which delivers aid to people who need it. and there are countless projects looking for volunteers to teach english to buddhist monks in nepal, or the informal drop—ins at the communal kitchen in sikh temples across india. you don't have to be christian to work on the global mercy, though. you don't even need medical training, as support staff are also needed to help run the ship. 0ur volunteer crew are amazing. they give up being close to family, being close to friends, many of them are walking away from salaried jobs and positions and work in order to volunteer here. it is just incredible that they can. really what they are working from, walking away from is safety and security. a little bit into the unknown, taking a risk.

and how does it work? let's say i decide i am going to come in and volunteer, do i have to pay? yeah, so we have a crew fee system where crew are notjust volunteering, but they are covering their room and board in that. but that's covering food and their stay here, so normally someone has some kind of volunteer support for that as well. in recent years, some western aid projects have been criticised, with complaints they have arrived in africa like so—called white saviours, demeaning and patronising the people they are trying to help. what do you, kind of, answer to that? when mercy ships comes into a country, we are notjust showing up with a ship on its doorstep and doing our thing. that is not how we operate. we are actually working with the nation, working with the ministry of health, local partners, community leaders, years before the ship even arrives. and the question we are asking them is, what do you need? how can we serve you? this is your nation, your people, your vision,

how can we help you get there? so, this is the residential floor. already it looks completely different. liking the sort of wooden look. and i was so keen to see what it looks like inside a family's apartment. 0h, cute. ok, this is one of the children's bed, i imagine. so, they have three kids, i am guessing one sleeps in there. two in here, and they actually have a fourth on the way. i can see they have made very good use of the space. the cabin belongs to the van der spijk family from the netherlands. they have been volunteering on mercy ships for more than a decade. justin and marianne even met on one, and married shortly afterwards. we met on board the africa

mercy 12 years ago, it was in lome in togo. and from lome we travelled to ghana, to accra, the cape coast, it was all really impressive. and we travelled to cotonou in benin, that was also really cool was the ability to be able to travel around part of the decision—making when you decided to join? it wasn't the reason, but it is a really fun part of it. and in that way it is really important to be able to see the world, to show the kids the world and see different cultures. and i mean, they are in english school, they learn a different language. i mean, all these kind of things are a benefit, and something positive, i guess. ready, one, two, three, pull it out! so, what is your favourite part about living on the ship? i like it that we live

close to our friends. what do you feel that travel brings to the kids? i can show my kids that it is not normal to have all these hospitals around you, and it's not normal to be rich or to buy anything you like. they have been exposed, when we went to senegal, an evening where we took a taxi back, some kids were begging for food. and that is really impressive forthe kids, and... then they have the ability to explain, then, that you know, we don't throw food away. if you eat, you finish your plate, and all that kind of thing makes more sense. where would you like to go? do you have any ideas? aruba. 0h, nice! aruba, i like that. justin has to get back for his dinner shift. he's got meat to chop.

he is one of the many on board who don't have any medical training. it is tempting. i will have a bit of everything. people come here to serve for months and years, and sometimes only a couple of weeks in any number of roles. emmanuel is a biomedical engineerfrom benin, and a long—termer on mercy ships. so, would you say this is a good way of seeing the world? i think so. you get to share with local communities, and you get to learn something from them. sometimes also there is resilience, if i can call it, they go through so much but they don't give up. what is your favourite part about being on the road, or should i say on the sea? to be able to have this community, these friendships — you get to meet people from all over the world. i think it is a blessing.

emmanuel is here for the work, less so the travel. his favourite memories all involve the people he has helped, ratherthan the places he has been. and his outlook is not untypical. voluntourism is nothing new, but what is happening here feels very different. some volunteers i met have been here for over a decade, and that takes some commitment. well, senegal isn't the only place where you can use your skills to take a volunteering break. and if you are tempted, here is our guide to the dos and don'ts of volunteering responsibly. will your work create lasting value? choose a company that has proper monitoring in place. providers like projects abroad work to un sustainability goals and publish annual impact reports.

find out which companies are more interested in making a project fun for the volunteer rather than valuable for the recipient. some companies will sign you up and then hand you over to a third party with no accountability — or even worse, drop you into an area with no proper planning or anyone local to complain to. the international volunteer programme association says that is the number one reason things fall apart. reputable outfits will offer you in—country support. and get all of the information well in advance. the work can be in remote areas, requiring extra planning. where will you stay? how will you be trained for the work? what happens if you get sick or have an accident? check your provider will throw in medical and liability insurance. 0k, stay with us because in a moment, making eco affordable: why greening your travel doesn't have to cost the earth.

when you think about how to save money on the road, you're tending to do a lot of the things everyday people do in that destination, and that inherently means avoiding huge resorts that are energy—intensive, huge amounts of imported food. and we visit the bridge that's making records on the roof of the world. see you after the break. hello and welcome to senegal, a truly stunning country that's on the west coast of africa. and it's been my home for the past three years. this week, we're in the senegalese capital dakar. a five—minute boat ride away from the dust and bustle, this is ngor island — a little slice of surfer�*s paradise. whilst we're here, there's one thing i want to show you.

speaks french yeah, s'il vous plait! so, thieboudienne is a national dish in senegal. �*thieb�* means rice, �*bou' with, and �*dienne�* fish. and if you're going to come, this is one dish that you have to try. yeah! merci! now, in ghana and nigeria, the same dish is called jollof, and foodies from those two countries have been tussling over ownership for years. but while they have been bickering, the senegalese may

have just snatched it from under their noses. in december, the un's heritage body unesco granted so—called senegalese jollof intangible culture heritage status. it's definitely notjust about the food, it's also where you eat the food. this view? priceless. my name is matthew kepnes and i run the website nomadicmatt.com i've been helping people travel on a budget since 2008. time to start our rail trip across europe. four destinations, two weeks — let's do this! pre—covid, you were in this phase that was sort of the golden age of cheap travel.

you had a lot of web services and cheap flight websites, companies like airbnb that really allowed people to break out of the old paradigms of resorts, hotels, cruises, and you had the rise of budget airlines that also helped lower costs. post—covid, costs have definitely gone up. you had a lot of businesses shut down, you've had airlines reduce their staffing, as well as their schedules. and so now, with everybodyjust really back out into the world trying to make up for lost time, you have less capacity and higher demand. you know, especially when you factor in all the supply chain issues and just rising costs of food and energy, you arejust really seeing a lot higher costs right now. and i think that's going to stay for a long time. affordable travel is definitely green travel, because when you think

about how to save money on the road, you're tending to do a lot of the things everyday people do in that destination, and that inherently means avoiding huge resorts that are energy—intensive, huge amounts of imported food, private cars and transportation, big things. you know, you're using the tools and resources that a local uses, and that is often less energy—intensive. three tips to travel sustainably and affordably. first and foremost — public transportation. avoid flying as much as you can. trains and buses do take longer, but they're just going to be much better for the environment. second, get out of major tourist areas. i can't emphasise this enough. so, going to smaller destinations that don't see a huge impact on their local infrastructure. an example that comes to mind is tulum, mexico.

big beach town, everybody goes there, but they don't have the infrastructure to meet the demand. so maybe going to a smaller town further away, it's more inland that has that kind of infrastructure. and not only does that spread out the positive impact of tourism and the financial positive impact, but it reduces the stress on, again, local infrastructure. getting out of a major tourist area is also much more affordable because these smaller towns, these more out—of—the—way destinations, since they don't see as many tourists, prices aren't as high. tip number three — carry a water bottle. i mean, it's a very simple thing but you're really reducing the amount of plastic you use. i use a filtered water bottle to ensure that even if i'm in countries where the tap water isn't safe, i'm not forced to buy water bottles. green travel is notjust about lowering your energy uses, it's also about spreading your tourism dollars around.

well, to finish off this week, we're off to india which is a country well known for its massive railway network. it's one of the biggest in the world, but it will soon also bejoining the record books as the proud home of the highest railway bridge. kind of appropriately, it'as been built in the himalayas, and we've been to take a look.

well, that's it from us for now. join us again next week, when carmen's in venice to meet the scuba—diving gondoliers with a job on their hands. that's one hard—core scuba diving suit — there's not one bit of skin showing. now, i've dived before. i'm not sure i'd want to go into the canals of venice, as lovely as they are. check us out on social media for more amazing travel content from the bbc, and it's goodbye for now from me in senegal, and see you soon.

you've probably heard already that a national emergency has been declared on account of this unprecedented heatwave. the english temperature record, which is also that of the uk, is going to get obliterated in the next few days, as indeed will the record for wales. in scotland, probably getting there or thereabouts, northern ireland perhaps just missing out. but this is an unprecedented spell of hot weather. a met office red extreme weather warning — the first one ever issued for all these areas of england, including many of england's largest cities — that's in force for monday and tuesday, the peak of the heatwave. but across sunday through to tuesday, for england, wales, southern scotland, we have a widespread amber weather warning.

impacts to health, impacts to infrastructure are expected. over the next few hours, seeing some showers push into northern scotland. look at these temperatures — this is as cool as our weather gets for the next few days, so if you're up early sunday morning, take advantage of this cool air, open your doors, open your curtains, open your windows, let that cool air into your house and into your flat and the first couple of the hours of the morning, shut everything — shut the windows, shut the doors, shut your curtains, shut that exceptional heat out. we're going to see temperatures building widely into the 30s across england and wales as well. what follows on monday is a spell of dangerous heat. we've got sunshine across the board and temperatures hitting a0 degrees celsius or so. the current uk temperature record is 38.7, so this is going to be the hottest day we've ever had in our country. and it's notjust the daytime temperatures — overnight, 10 o'clock monday night,

we're still widely into the 30s — that's going to be horrendous for getting a good night's sleep, hence the importance of keeping your flats and your houses as cool as possible. tuesday, we start to see some storms break out in the west, bringing some slightly fresher air into western areas but otherwise, it's another day of dangerous heat. this heat is dangerous for people's health, so you can mitigate some of those problems. i've already mentioned some tips — keeping curtains closed, particularly on the sunny side of your house. 0nly open windows and doors if it is actually cooler outside — that would often only be at the end of the night. drink plenty of water and remember, a cool shower can help you cope.

welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories: europe's intense heatwave ignites wildfires, many have died in extreme temperatures across the continent. this is a very dangerous time of yearfor this is a very dangerous time of year for wildfire risk and we have seen significant instances of fires reignited. moscow orders its forces to step up operations across ukraine, as russian missiles strike several cities. the un extends its mission in haiti for a further 12 months, after gang warfare and petrol shortages