Like I said earlier, Carnival Calabar was the place to be this Christmas. As far as I am concerned, Cross River State is the foremost tourism destination in the country. You won't understand untill you visit the State.
About the Carnival, all I will say is that I've never seen a people so passionate about something before. This event is so important to the people of Cross River State and it's many loyal visitors who trooped in from various states and countries. Each band had almost a thousand team members and the streets were filled with people who came out to watch the Carnival, which by the way is the most exciting thing to watch.
What a lot of people don't know is that there is a competition in the Carnival. A very serious competition that involves FIVE bands...which includes:
Freedom band - The Cross River Deputy Governor's Band
Masta Blaster - The Cross River Governor's band
Bayside - Ex-Governor Donald Duke's BandSeagull - Sen. Florence Ita Giwa's band (Which won this year's competition)
Passion 4 - Cross River State Commissioner's band
This year's Carnival theme was: 'Land of our birth: our people, our heritage' which reflects their desire to bring people together to celebrate their culture and proud history.
The winning band will get about N5m I think and declared Carnival Calabar Band of the year.
Like I said before, I went to the Carnival as a judge (There were 37 judges in all) and the best part about being a judge is that every band performed in front of us..they will walk and dance around the streets but when they get to our tent, they perform for us...to get high marks I suppose...:-)
Anway, check out some pictures I took of the first band in the line up...Freedom Band
Bringing you more Calabar Carnival pics...
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