The rspca says its dealing with a surge in the number of horses being abandoned because of the financial pressure faced by their owners. Now, the charity is asking other horse lovers to help, as Duncan Kennedy reports. For these horses, this is a field of dreams. Somewhere for now that becky, hallie, brett and bert can call home. Hello juliette cox is one of those who now looks after them. Julia, theyre incredibly friendly. Yes, these two are. She says it is hard to understand how anyone could treat them like this. Good boy, bert i just wish that people would ask for help, because there is help out there so that you dont have to leave them and abandon them. There has been a surge in the number of abandoned horses across the country. This huge group was found recently in northamptonshire. Many are in a terrible state. The rspca is now caring for around 750 abandoned horses, the highest number since 2009. Rosie russon from the rspca says owners are getting rid of their animals during the covid crisis because they cannot afford to keep them. People are on furlough at the moment due to covid, theyre struggling financially. Theyre struggling to pay for food costs for their horses and the breeders are still breeding, unfortunately, and no one can buy these horses. The cost of keeping abandoned horses is huge. Animal charities dont get any covid related support from the government and the rspca says its income has dropped by half since march. The rspca says horses like hallie, brett and bert here often arrive having been starved and ill treated, but they say after a few weeks of care and attention here by the rspca staff, they become friendly and able to be rehomed in a perfectly safe fashion. Thats why ahead of winter theyre desperately appealing for help, from horse lovers like alison hargreaves. She has agreed to take in one abandoned horse named nelly. I have got two alpacas. She gets on well with them and with my other horse as well. She is a very quick learner. She loves to be busy and doing things and i think were going to have a load of fun together, arent we . Hey . The rspca thinks the problem of abandoned horses will get even worse as the Financial Difficulties of covid deepen. An equine dimension to an economic crisis. Duncan kennedy, bbc news in kent. Now on bbc news the travel show. This week on the travel show. Rajans looking for a knees up in rome. Wow. Face to face with the neanderthals in gibraltar. And im braving the elements in japan. This is great lively theme music welcome to the land of the trees. This is wakayama, in central japan, a short train ride south of osaka. And this is where many of japans urban population have been coming to escape the congested cities during the pandemic. And ive come to try a style of rafting that you can only do right here. Before that, we are off to europe and italys eternal city. Rajan rome. A city that plays to its own tune. Trumpets play with iconic ancient history punctuating the landscape of this modern metropolis. Italy itself, though, is a relatively young country. For its nation builders, there was only one city that could be the capital, and this year is a special anniversary. Because over the next year, rome is supposed to be celebrating its 150th anniversary as the capital city of italy. But looking around me now, i get the feeling there is not going to be quite the fanfare they were hoping for. Since its initial big outbreak here, italy has suppressed the spread of the coronavirus better than many other countries. But cases are on the rise and International Tourism is still way down. Tour guide desiree has said she has seen demand from International Travellers drop by as much as 90 . Now we are in front of the coliseum. This is the colosseum and it is still incredible. So who are the tourists you have been showing around 7 where are they from . Only italian tourists. So, theres good and bad . Good and bad . Good and bad. What i see here looks like ancient rome, ancient history. Yeah. Do you want to take a look . Shall we have a look . Yeah. Fantastic. The forum was once a place where romans gathered togetherfor big processions, speeches and markets. To understand how rome was, you have to come here in this place. With this weather, too. Laughter but what is the connection between this, thousands of years ago, and you and your friends today . What is the connection . I feel the connection today as well. Im roman. When i am here and when i walk around the ruins i can feel the people that were here. And 150 years ago, it was that historical connection that made rome an obvious choice to be capital. Back then, the country that we now know as italy was a separated collection of states with rome at the heart of the pope governed papal state. But italy was in the process of becoming unified and all roads in this effort led to rome. Why was it so important, do you think, that rome had to be the capital of this newly formed italy . For italy to become a unified country, it was decided that rome had to be taken from the pope by force, starting right here at the city walls next to the porta pia monument which now holds a museum for the military unit called the bersaglieri who broke through the city walls first. So this is the document that marks the creation of the bersaglieri. Hard to believe im actually touching the document. And allowed to touch a document that was so essential to italian history. Bersaglieri means sharpshooters in english, and they were famed for their mobility. This is fascinating. Thats porta pia, where we are right now, and just along the city wall there is the actual invasion opening where they actually went through. This is proper history. History of this country. Today, many hold them with deep affection here, and not just for their military accomplishments. At national events, the bersaglieri have long been known for a unique style of parade, displaying their historic speed and agility. And i have been granted a private performance by the distinctive marching band. And here they come. Trumpets play wow. Bravissimo thats fantastic tell me, how easy is it to run and play . It must be really difficult . What is it like when you are out there in the streets under normal conditions and people are watching you . How does it feel . So can i have the honour then of giving that command before you start your march . Si, prego. Thank you. Posto fa nfa re bersaglieri, attenti di corso, march this year there was due to be a large street parade for the 150th anniversary with the bersaglieri taking a starring role. The event became significantly low key thanks to coronavirus, but fingers crossed look out in 2021 for heartier celebrations. Rajan reporting from rome. Now, over to america where we are meeting the woman in alabama putting the sparkle into mardi gras. The culture of mardi gras is so much fun. We have a good time. I mean, its fun, fun, fun. Mardi gras here was the first. Its done before ash wednesday. Everything ceases at 12 oclock, tuesday midnight. And then they go into lent. In mobile, were more family orientated. People here come home for mardi gras, rather than come home for christmas, just to party and have a good time and reunite a lot. I grew up in mobile so ive grown up with mardi gras in my blood and i am a mardi gras designer for royalty. Emcee ladies and gentlemen, royalty, definitely in the house tonight. The queen and king are selected as the royal ambassador for the city. Now, there are a lot of different organisations, but there are two that rules the city, and that is mamga the mobile area mardi gras association, is predominately African American association and the mobile Carnival Association is caucasian, mostly of european descent but overall we blend and we enjoy each other and just have a good time. I would not want there to be one big mardi gras association. I think the cultural differences and the beauty of the difference in the cultures make it so nice. I started sewing when i was 12. My mother was a seamstress, she loved sewing and i would watch her. She would make all of my clothes, all kinds of pretty dresses. When i was 12 i said i needed some new clothes and she said i had to make them. I started to make trains for the ladies of the court. My niece was in the court and i made hertrain. And from there i started making other people trains. A train is around 18 feet long and about nine feet wide so they are very large and they weigh up to 75 pounds depending on the amount ofjewels on the train. And we will get a chance to see this tonight. Mamca, which is the African American version of it all, they had their first coronation back in 1940. The queen and kings coronation is where the queen is crowned. The king is already king, but he has now selected his queen, but she is not queen until she is crowned so the coronation is the crowning of the kings new queen. Ladies and gentlemen. Her gracious majesty Queen Rosemary elaine dunning. We look at them as role models and you have kind of have a leader mentality and strength to make the right decisions in life. And what we are doing, when we showcase in the trains in their coronation, we are showing how that person grew in their life to be a role model. Still to come on the travel show christa is back in gibraltar to find out why the rock was home to the biggest concentration of some of our distant ancestors anywhere in the world. Wow. And i am injapan to try out a distinctive style of rafting that dates back over 600 years. I am totally soaked from my waist down. So dont go away. Now over to gibraltar where christa has been to find out what its hidden secrets have been revealing about some of our closest human relatives. On the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula lies gibraltar, a small british overseas territory tucked between europe and africa. Thousands of years ago, this was home to the highest concentration of neanderthals anywhere in the world. Clive finlayson has been excavating these caves for many yea rs now, slowly uncovering its secrets. A friend of mine calls them neanderthal city. They really are unique in the world and the two main ones are, on the left you have gorhams cave next to those steps, and on the right vanguard cave. Also evidence suggests they lived here till about 24,00033,000 years ago, making it one of the last known places they occupied before extinction. This wasnt open water when the neanderthals lived here. In fact, the beach and the water was miles that way. This was an open plain, like a mediterranean serengeti where you had wild creatures roaming, ready for the hunt. Taking a boat trip here is the easiest way to view the caves but occasionally you can apply for special access to go into them as it is a unesco World Heritage site and also an active dig area. Wow. It was here that the first fully adult neanderthal skull was discovered back in 1848 and then later on, the bones of seven other individuals. Big, arent they . Incredible. It is amazing to think that these people were standing exactly where we are now and they would look out at this fantastic view and instead of the sea that would have had the plains out there, herds of animals roaming right across and they would plan exactly where they wanted to go and do the hunt from here but of course they could also come back, retreat here, into the safety of the cave afterwards. Come and have a look. What you have here a re different events. For example, a limpet shell there. Wed have to excavate here but there may be a place where they were living and eating and then moving along. Each of these layers is an event. There are hundreds of stories still waiting to be told just in this one cave. Most of the discoveries from the caves can be seen at the Gibraltar National museum. While neanderthals are a different human species, researchers have identified a combined total of 20 neanderthal dna on modern humans today. A result of interbreeding thousands of years ago. Clive himself has 2. 5 neanderthal dna. Is this an artist interpretation . No, this is a forensic reconstruction and its using as much detailed information on neanderthal metrics and so on that we have at our disposal today. This is as close as youre going to get to seeing a neanderthal or what he or she would look like. There a twinkle in the eye. I think that is what makes her human. The female is called nana and it was her skull that was first discovered in 1848. The little one, called flint, was found some years later. Extracted dna from both has meant that we know what their hair and eye colour would have been. Come into one of our laboratories. What is it you are doing here . I am painting with silk. Did you start with this and end up with this . I spent five months. Five months that is incredible, its so detailed. Do you mind if i touch it . You can press. It is like skin. Exactly like skin. This model is based on a male skull found in a cave in france but they now have the skills to forensically reconstruct him here in the museum. So what is the benefit for us to be able to see the flesh of it, rather than just the skull . I think it helps to understand and for us to empathise with these people. You put flesh, you give them names and suddenly youre looking at people and that is what makes the difference. Part of the hard science that we have done over the years has missed the fact that we have not seen them as people. It will be awhile before this one is finished but ijust could not leave without knowing one thing. What is the hairstyle going to be . I think rockstar style. Flowing locks, it was all the rage to finish up this week, i am in thejapanese prefecture of wakayama they call it the land of the trees. Domestic tourism has risen here recently, with the government subsidising japanese getaways, making escapes to remote wildernesses like wa kayama popular. For centuries, the wood here was so sought after that it was used in buildings all around the country but transporting it was no easy task. They came up with a novel solution and today travellers can experience the old journey downstream. It really does look quite strange by todays standards. I do not know what i was expecting but it really is just a bunch of logs strung together. It must float ok, it has been around long enough. So what is it like to drive and steer such a long raft like this . In the past, once the trees had been felled and strung together, the rafters would ride them down the river to their destination. Today, with travellers on board, the rafts are safer there are lifejackets, handrails and a bench, plus additional measures now for coronavirus, like masks and reduced capacities. But it is still very open to the elements. We are approaching the first rapid and it is meant to be the steepest and the most exciting. Hang on. This is great i am totally soaked from my waist down. This is the slower part of the ride, so to speak, but it is just fascinating to think this is what they would have been doing 600 years ago to transport all the logs down to the city to make the temples and the shrines. And these skills certainly come in handy these days when the temptation for getting away from big city life and all the new restrictions is greater than ever. Not that it is all tranquil relaxation. We are approaching a rapid now and we stand up so we do not get too wet. Here we go so that was our last rapid. So interesting to watch these four guys navigate this seven ton log raft down the river. Just like they would have 600 years ago. It is amazing. That is all we have time for this week. Coming up next week we will be looking back at some of our most memorable trips to africa, like when lucy met the former poachers now responsible for protecting some of rwandas majestic primates. Its very rare that im lost for words but these beautiful creatures have just completely taken my breath away. And dont forget to follow us in all the usual places on twitter and facebook and instagram. In the meantime, from me Carmen Roberts and the rest of the team here in wakayama, it is goodbye. Hello. Sunday will be the last day in this spell of fairly quiet, settled weather. That said, there will still be enough cloud out there to produce a little patchy rain in a few spots as we go through the day. But some of us will actually end up being a little bit brighter than we were on saturday. Were just in this weather pattern waiting for something to come along and the signs are there in the atlantic as low pressure starting to form and heading our way to bring some very different weather in the week ahead. As well see in a moment. This is how we start off on sunday morning. The thickest cloud through Northern Ireland, scotland, through northern and Eastern England giving some outbreaks of mostly light rain. So some of us getting off to a damp start. There may be some early sunny spells in the far northeast of scotland. That will cloud over. And as all of this starts to push north again it will stay damp for some in scotland. But Northern Ireland will brighten up for a time. And parts of wales, and across the midlands, and southern england a great chance of seeing sunny spells on sunday compared with saturday. It will still be another rather cool day. But for now the winds are light. Some rain will push across Northern Ireland on through sunday evening, on across the Northern Isles too, and more widely into scotland, into parts of Northern England as the night goes on. South of that there will be a few clear spells around. For all parts, the breezes starting to pick up. Starting to come in, though, from the south. Look at this. It has been so quiet, it is much more active on the big picture here, though, for monday. Weather fronts out towards the north and west. And, of course, low pressure taking over. And during monday there will be some further heavy rain, particularly into Northern Ireland and scotland. But some outbreaks of rain also affecting some of us towards the west of wales and western fringes of england. Whereas elsewhere clouds going to increase. Still some hazy brightness. Again the wind is starting to pick up as well. But its a southerly breeze. Those temperatures are a little bit higher. That spell of rain will push its way east across all parts during monday night. On tuesday, still some further heavy rain in northern scotland, further heavy showers elsewhere in scotland and Northern Ireland. A few elsewhere on this brisk south southwesterly wind. But that flow of air will bring some milder weather in, particularly into england and wales, where some will reach towards the high teens. Temperatures trail off again later in the week. As the week goes on there will be further spells of rain clearing to showers to en