Travel and Holiday Guide

Now, have you ever been to Bahamas before? Well, it’s not going to complete talking about Bahamas without talking about Junkanoo festival. This is a Bahamian cultural expression, firstly commercialized in 1920. It’s the most exciting display of combination of music, art and dance in the world. The parade displaying colorful and elaborate costumes in variety of shapes, and colors, and most often, beyond our wildest imagination.

While dancing and performing, they also compete for the prizes offered. Thus, becoming more competitive and the participants are ‘forced’ to be more creative, and of course, giving us even greater exciting tourist attraction.

The Junkanoo festival is made possible by the effort of the whole community. Families, friends and neighbors gather within groups which consist of 500 to 1000 members. These groups perform together at the parade. The preparation took months ahead with intense practice for the dancer, musicians, and creating customes.

Today, there are four (4) major Junkanoo groups that compete earnestly every year for the grand prize. The “Valley Boys” and the “Saxons Superstars” are considered to be the two senior groups. We now have “Roots”, which was formed in 1991. There is also the “One Family” Junkanoo group, which was formed and organized in 1993.

Beside the fancy costumes, the vital part of the festival is the music. The rhytmic sound of goatskin drums, cowbells and whistles are accompanied by a separate brass section. Following the tradition by their ancestors, the local people stretch goatskin across the drum opening and “tune” it by burning a candle under the skin to tighten it to the right pitch.

Not every moment of the year you can witness this unique parade. The Festival is held on the Bay Street twice a year, 1st of January, and every 26th of December. The parade normally begins with a shotgun start at 2 a.m in the morning (yes, it’s before the dawn!), and continues until approximately 9 a.m when the results of the parade are publicly announced in world-famous Rawson Square. But winning is really not everything here actually. Since the excitement of preparation and rocking to the sounds of Junkanoo drummers, cowbellers and dancers, completely exonerate us to get up and rushly go to Bay Street that early in the morning to get the best spot to witness the parade.

Are you the one who likes more challenges and adventure to your holiday? Whether you are new or experience diver, let’s take a little closer on this diving site.

Papua New Guinea, situated near north of Australia, could be say one of the most spectacular and beautiful tropical countries, and one of the world’s top diving destination. Beside having the largest rain forest area (outside Amazon) with vast varieties of unique flora and fauna, Papua also has extraordinary rich marine life. Through all the several hundreds offshore island, one worth looking will be the Bootless Bay.

Bootless Bay is just 22 km east of Port Moresby (the capital of Papua New Guinea), on the south coast of Papua for exact. It is famous for its rich marine diversity, and visited regularly by botanist, marine biologist, and others who has special interest in flora, fauna, and rare marine species around Papua New Guinea. It has three small islands : Lion Island (uninhabited), Motupore, and Loloata. One of the best possible access to the rich dive environments of Bootless Bay is through Loloata Island.

Some of the finest dive sites are on the barrier reef beyond Bootless Bay. It has tidal currents which instead make great supply of food that support a very good fish population. There is a series of bommies on the reef edge which called Pumpkin Patch. Some are joined with ridges, others separated by deep gullies. You should take a look around before jumping into the water delightfully, since Bryde’s Whales have sometimes passed by this area. Under the water, you can find Pygmy Seahorses, black coral shrimps, Long-nosed Hawkfish, Merlett’s (Rhynopias) Scorpionfish, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, these are only a very small fraction of marine treasures that can be found here.

Other water activities besides diving also can be found here, such as snorkeling, kayaking, wind surfing, water skiing, and line fishing. You can have a brisk walk or stroll along the beach and foreshore on the early morning or late afternoon, as the best time to say. Local Sightseeing tours can also be arranged to explore further about the island.

Besides famous for its diving site, Papua New Guinea also has vast biological diversity of the flora and fauna. All the recognised species of “Birds of Paradise” are represented here, and even more, other species of bird life in combination with the unique marsupial, mammal, insect, etc.

With so much diversity of culture, choice of scenery, flora and fauna, for sure Papua New Guinea offers so much as a travel destination. Cultural performances, Tropical Beachside Hotels, Mountain treks, spectacular scenery, unequalled scuba diving, bird watching, you name it. From the highest mountain peaks to the bottom of it’s oceans, you can enjoy all outdoor nature in great delight.