Been, a bit of sunshine to the east of Northern England, any sunshine in scotla nd of Northern England, any sunshine in scotland and Northern Ireland, given the persistent rain in the highlands working towards the clyde valley. Breezy with it, temperatures in double figures, five or six celsius where the mist and low cloud lingers. Heading out this evening, the heaviest of the raid will clear from the north, leaving a good divide, cold conditions with one or two wintry conditions in the north, milder but cloudy in the south. Many here will be dry to see in the new year. Overnight rain and hills there we re year. Overnight rain and hills there were gradually clearing, but quite a cloudy and that they are wales, central and Southern England. The best of the weather in scotland and Northern England, but one or two wintry flurries can be expected. Bye for now. Hello, this is bbc news with me, gavin esler. The headlines at 10 30 after a glittering year for british sport, more than a hundred stars of the olympics and paralympics are recognised in the new years honours list. Unbelievably shocked and honoured, excuse the pun. Ive been through so many emotions once i received the letter fear, excitement. And from the world of entertainment, there are knighthoods for ken dodd, the actor mark rylance, and the opera singer bryn terfel. Dozens of flights from heathrow and gatwick are cancelled as freezing fog continues to affect central, eastern and Southern England. Driving conditions in some areas are said to be treacherous. Around 3000 Police Officers will be on duty across Central London tonight as crowds gather to celebrate the new year. Greater Manchester Police and other forces say theyve also stepped up crowd protection measures. Now one bbc news, the travel show. It has gone from being one of the poorest countries in the world to relative prosperity today, and a reputation as a beacon of responsible tourism. The Republic Of Botswana has been on quite a journey in its 50 years of independence. And i am on a personal mission to explore how people here have shared this land with such a diversity of wildlife for millennia. And if tourism can help maintain that delicate balance. The big day, the 50th anniversary, draws ever nearer, and rehearsals are well under way. Half a century of independence is a big dealfor the people of botswana, who have seen their country overcome some major hurdles. We had few schools. The only schools that were there were run by missionaries. It has been a journey where one could say we were starting from nothing. And there have been some serious crises. At one point, the country had the worlds highest rate of hiv infection. But sensible treatment and prevention programmes mean that the worst is over. When one talks of the 50th celebrations of this country, and when one looks back, you just say, you know, there is a lot that, as a nation, we really need to celebrate. Inside the barracks, the Military Band are feeling their way through a traditional favourite. But lets see how they cope with a more cavalier interpretation. Do you want to have a go . Yeah lets try. I am just waving my hands in the air, and look at what is happening. Music the power is going to my head. I have got a sneaking suspicion they are actually ignoring my inspired baton gesturing. But hey, happily for them, i wont be in charge on the big day. With just a few hundred thousand residents, the capital, gabarone, in the south eastern of the country, does not really fit the stereotype of a bustling noisy african city. Can i try your hat . What do you think . Beautiful. Come on but right now, the market is doing a good trade in bot50 paraphernalia. In fact, for some people, the party has started early. As an International Trader, diamonds have been botswanas best friend throughout most of its independence. Huge discoveries propelled it to becoming the Worlds Largest supplier, and its the industrys global hub today. Botswana has come a long way in 50 years. And thanks to the wealth accrued through diamond reserves, they have got free education, free health care. It is even classed as a middle income country. But in botswana, diamonds are not for ever, and tourism is trying to fill the gap. Botswana is about the size of france. Yet with only around 2 million people, its one of the worlds most sparsely populated countries, on a par with australia and mongolia. And the truth is, you dont really come to botswana for the urban vibe. I am keen to explore the countrys world renowned wildlife, so across the tropic of capricorn, i drive north. Botswana boasts more african elephants per square mile than any other country in the world. And its a glorious sight. But there is another big beast that has had a much rougher passage in the last few decades. The rhinoceros. At one point, thanks to poaching, there were only four rhinos left in the entire country. Khama is a sanctuary dedicated to ensuring their future survival. With nine rhinos brought in from south africa in the late 1980s, a Breeding Programme began, and we are now tracking one of the Success Stories of that programme. So the wind is blowing that side, so we have to go downwind. Rhinos have got a good sense of smell, that is how they detect whatever is around them in the environment. We have to be downwind so that they dont smell us. Its fascinating, because he has explained to me that you can tell the rhinos dont feel threatened because they are moving quite slowly. You can tell they are moving slowly by their footprints, and there is one rhino here, and one rhino over there. That offers us some luck that we will get close to them because they dont feel threatened. Lets cross our fingers. Weve just spotted them. Yes wow. Ok, we are going to take a bit of a risk. My guide has been as close as ten metres to a rhino before, without them sensing that hes there, so lets try that now. It may be best if only mike comes. Its hard to grasp that one of this planets great survivors, such a dignified, shy beast, is under threat because of mans vanity. 200 rhinos have been successfully bred here, and today around 75 reside in the khama sanctuary. But this is not the end of the story. Other neighbouring countries are now sending rhino into botswana as a protected haven from poachers. I travelled northwest to Chiefs Island to see how successful this project is, in the company of the most committed advocate of Wildlife Conservation i have ever met. Beautiful creature. Beautiful, beautiful creature. Of course im biased it looks to me, and i need a better view, there are thorns in the way here, but we are looking at a mother and a calf. That calf was born in botswana. The mother has met a bull here, and she has bred that calf. So that in itself is a success. That excites me, that should excite anyone who is interested in conservation. Today, rhino horns are highly valued for their supposed medicinal and ornamental properties, especially in asia. The latest round of poaching is a massive threat because of technologies, gps units, Satellite Telephones that are being used by the modern syndicates, you know . So the modern guys are a distinct threat for us. Between the two rhinos in front of us, he estimates there is a market value of 120,000 us worth of illegal rhino horn. It is an international effort, but the threat comes from continents away. They use neighbouring states as sort of clearing stations, so this effort to look after these rhinos, prevent poaching, has to be international by description. It is not an effort that can be carried out in botswana alone. And conservation is botswanas main focus these days. The mantra for tourism is high quality, low impact. In other words, Discouraging Mass Tourism in favour of more expensive but also more responsible camps. The latest trend in that is mobile safari essentially pop up sites that prevent local wildlife becoming too habituated to human presence. Ok, so the first thing we are going to do is to build my bedroom. En suite, no less and it is all in that box . Yes, lets go and make it. Friends of mine will tell you i am not a natural camper, and i think i am about to prove them right. What am i doing wrong . Here we go. Argh i am feeling a bit dizzy. Oops the whole thing has collapsed again. But out of chaos comes comfort. Do you know what . I have never been in this situation before, with Wildlife Roaming free. In fact, i can hear a lionjust over there. No rangers, no guns, no wi fi coverage, no mobile phone coverage, and im just about to go to bed in a tent by myself. He snores ok, it is about 3am, and i havejust woken up. I was woken up by something, a noise outside. Until then, i slept quite well, but now my mind is beginning to race, and im thinking that maybe if i put my head through the entrance of the tent, there will be like a lion or an elephant just there. Up until then, though, i slept pretty well. Its a really nice little setup. The only real stirrings i have heard, loud stirrings, have been the sounds of the night coming from my colleague who is in the tentjust down there. Snoring sunrise and a spectacularjourney across the mighty kalahari, a desert which covers some 80 of the country. Now, this is what i really imagine when i think desert. Vast, stark, dry, Flat Stretches of landscape, and so dusty when a car or the wind whips up the sand. And there are perils to driving through this terrain. So here we have the hazards of driving a two wheel drive car in the middle of this really heavy, thick sand. This car is stuck, and we are going to try and help rescue her. Do you want to push there . Will that help . Probably not i dont know if this makes any difference, but anyway. Handbrake on, handbrake on i am not quite sure what is happening now. Are you going to pull this by yourself now . This is africas strongest man. Yes, im very confident. Oh, hes done it i think we are talking success 50 years actually makes botswana quite a young country, but what this anniversary conceals is that here in the kalahari desert, youve got one of the oldest communities on the planet, maintaining the same traditions for Tens Of Thousands of years. And this is where it all began. The Tsodilo Hills in the far north west of the country are the spiritual and Ancestral Home to many communities of bush or san people, and they left a quite remarkable legacy. This area has been occupied by people continuously for 100,000 years. People have left their artistic expressions in the form of rock art. People believe that this is peoples soul and spirit. That is why this site is very important. Today it is also on the World Heritage list today. By their very lifestyle, the nomadic san tribes have touched many parts of what is botswana today. I am interested in finding out how they are coping in a contemporary world, where they are not allowed to hunt, and have lost land and access to natural resources. So onwards to the outskirts of the town of ganzi in western botswana, close to the namibian border. Settlements like these were created as part of a controversial government relocation programme, designed to integrate the san people into mainstream society. People like bolanda. Can you show me your hut . This is where you live and sleep, yeah . This is a far cry from the nomadic Hunting And Gathering lifestyle of her forefathers. Four times a year they moved to different areas, and then when the seasons changed, they also moved in another direction. So they were very sensitive to the movement of animals. The Living Conditions here are a good illustration of the sometimes uneasy mix of the traditional with the contemporary. You can see the traditional pots here. In the olden days, our forefathers were using traditional sticks for making fire. And now we buy matches from the shops. Instead of plates, they were using the Ostrich Eggshell as the plate. For many san people, the transition to this way of life has been hard, but bulanda has forged a career for herself as a beader, using indigenous skills. My business has grown tremendously, and i have been invited to attend International Trade fairs in different countries. I have travelled to america, to europe. I think the San Community simply need to change their lifestyle. Relocation has meant that many of the ancient san traditions, language and culture have come under threat and notjust in botswana. Bulanda took me to an annual festival, held just outside the town. It is an old language, but i think it is dying, really, not a lot of people speak it, is that right . Yes, it is. Teach me. She clicks at this festival, different tribes from all over Southern Africa gather to promote and celebrate endangered cultural practices. Later in the evening, a Spiritual Healing Dance is performed. In the olden days, it was only performed when somebody was sick. When they were moving around, dancing. They talked to the traditional gods to take the evil spirit away. The whole event is under the banner of celebrating botswanas 50th birthday, but bulanda is sceptical about it having any real meaning for her community. It doesnt make sense to me. Because the san people have not changed for 50 years. Their lives are just going down, down, down every day. There is a lot of poverty, a lot of unemployment. This is not really one where we can celebrate. The san people do only represent a small minority of the botswana population, but they are highly symbolic. It may need more than a healing ritual like this to remedy this issue. One solution is to involve more san people in tourism. That has been successfully achieved by other communities in locally run schemes in the delta in the north. These traditional canoes, or mokoros, used to be carved from tree trunks, but for ecological reasons are now fashioned from fibreglass. And were off nice and smooth. At the moment, no sign of any crocodiles, which is good news. In the olden days, theyd go out using mokoro for hunting, fishing, and gathering wild berries. In the olden days, there were several small villages, they lived in islands. When they visited each other, theyd use mokoro as their transport. Do you think you will always stay here . I will say yes because it is where i originate. All my friends, i have to ask them to come to visit me in this paradise. The boat is wonderfully smooth. I have not felt the least bit threatened. I would do if i felt a hippo or crocodile was coming this way. But so far, so good. It has been an epicjourney crisscrossing botswana. Eight plane trips and some hard slogs, driving more than 3000 km on rough terrain. It is not necessarily a cheap place to travel in, and in fact sometimes it feels a bit exclusive, but the truth is, the future of botswana for the next 50 years and beyond lies in all its inhabitants, peacefully sharing in the unique resources of this extraordinary land. Hello. The good news is that the fog is not as widespread or long lasting as it has been through recent days, as it has been through recent days, a murky start across Southern England and east anglia, problems with the roads and airports will gradually ease as conditions improve, visibility picks up, a fairly grey day for many, but any sunshine this morning gives way to cloudy conditions through the afternoon, persistent rain in a Highlands Edging down towards the forth valley and the north of Northern Ireland as we in the afternoon. If you are out early, be prepared for a wet and windy spell, feeling cold. Midnight in Northern England and northwest wales, decidedly wet. Before that rain arrives, across the south, most places will be dry, fairly cloudy, a strengthening south west wind, but nothing too windy of note. It will keep temperatures up, seven or 8 degrees at midnight, compared to colder conditions north of the rain band, feeling colder in the strength of the wind. That Icy Arctic Wind will slowly edged to a southwards across the rest of the country as we go through new years day, a slow process. In the south, milder weather to begin with, cloudy and damp morning, if not day for many of you. Heavy bursts of rain, the northerly wind meaning it will feel chilly in devon and cornwall. South west winds, fairly dry, but thoroughly wet, cold, and with that northerly wind across parts of the midlands, Northern England, digging into the Rain Band Sleet and snow across higher ground. Mixed in with the rain, though. The far north of england, scotland and Northern Ireland, a bracing fresh morning to clear the head, most will start with some sunshine, some outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow, a covering to low levels of northern scotland. Some good sunny spells in between, the midlands, east anglia and the south, staying cloudy and down throughout. Some of that rain and heavy side, and even here over the hill is a bit of wet snow mixed in with the rain at times. That clears into monday and tuesday, a good deal of sunshine by day, but cold, especially with those widespread frost by night. Happy hogmanay. This is bbc news. The headlines at 11 00. The queens new years honours list is dominated by britians Olympic And Paralympic Stars including andy murray, mo farah and lee pearson. Im nbelievably shocked and honoured excuse the pun ive been through so many emotions once i received the letter. Fear, excitement. And from the world of entertainment there are knighthoods for ken dodd, the actor mark rylance, and the opera singer, bryn terfel. Almost three quarters of the people on the honours list, are recognised for work in their local community. Like sylvia morris. We set out to continue the initiative of my late daughter, who agreed to front a campaign on the day she was diagnosed with leukaemia which