When one thinks of christmas in Nigeria, one's mind goes to calabar, specifically the calabar carnival, the event an crowd puller, a cacophony of voices, colours and costumes. On this occassion fashion and beauty merge, both are celebration of self freedom. Africa culture is often on road show, emitting a sense of deja vu round the city of calabar.
The Calabar christmas festival has a tourism undertone, visiting the Marina Resort in Calabar South and be refreshed with the Tinapa Business Resort and behold, the ingenuity of architecture ,leisure and commerce stares you in the face. hence, nature and business are friends. Browse through the emporium relax at the lakeside , experience freedom in its entirety. Christmas in calabar is a reflection of the beauty of idea and tourism potentials of Cross River State.
Calabar is unique in the south-south geo-political zone of the country Nigeria. It is the people paradise, often regarded as come and live and be at rest . Residents are generous, kind hearted, receptive and lovable. Love for a neighbour or visitor is a virture, culture and standard for upbringing, It is the essence of living, the same love which pervades the landscapes extends to the atmosphere. You breathe fresh natural air with no pollution, in calabar every sight ,small sound and taste is new again , it is the anti thesis of other cities exspecially industrialised cities that prize-poke on capitalism , competition and profit.
Some of the memorable spot that attract tourist includes the Marina Resort in Calabar which overlooks the vast mangrove of calabar River .It is a land of eternal leisure and technicolor drians, hence every arrow now points to that corner of the city . the resort has a parking lot, standard hotel cum night club, hall for conference/ seminars, an amphitheatre, love garden , slave museum ,mini amusemaent part for the childern and many more facilities.
The splash and roar of ocean surge provides natures background music which blends perfectly with the merry making, colour , gaits, sun bathing and sight seeing of tourists. Security is guaranteed 24 hours even as the toll gate keep away bad element . the serene ambiance is ideal for relaxation. The obudu Ranch Resort, a jewel in the savannah, sits on the summark of an 11km mountain. It manitain an all year round temperature climate while the rolling hill and the verdant hambour gives it a scenic beauty . Tourist, who takes a stroll at the ranch , are either bathed in dew or wrapped with refreshing clouds , they are further thrilled as they behold in wire the endless plans teeming the mountain ranges under limitless skies, glowing out there where the sun brings each out once the clouds gives way a little with an airstrip close to the base of the mountain , tourist fly in from any part of the country .And with a cable be used to ferry people up and down, mobility is not a problm . this is in addition to an acess road used by vehicles and motorcycles.A trip to the Ranch Resort is a trip of paradise. It is simply natures , anchitectural masterpiece
The Tinapa buiness/leisure Resort, the envisaged trading hub of africa has opened for business and would in no distance time, make calabar the centre of commerce by every standard.Tinapa is a tourists resorts kind of modest villas overlook the artficial lake,chilly atmosphere given its coastal location, secluded environment, waterfall , manicured arcade, nature sanctuary and many more . There are four emporium for shopping they certainly turn out to be the most profitable of the mega-chain , there is also the block buster studio Tinapa , scores of small businesses ranging from fast food joints to relaxation spots including a 4-star hotel each expected to team with customer and funseeker daliy.
These tourists centre and many other in the state are now double attractive. those that come from other part of Nigeria and beyond to participate in the carnival are curious to visit there , this explain then the turn around development by the erstwhile governor .The magic is working if figures on visitors to those sites are anything to go by . Five carnival group each with a unique identity , make up the calabar carnival, they include the Passion 4 , Freedom band, Master blaster , Seagull and Bayside Band . none has a membership that is less than 5,000 membership is voluntary , based on your conviction and confirmed after an intending member pays the necessary registration fees and scale thoungh the oral interview session . Both the costumes and colours of the respectives groups vary .Passion 4 has green for its identity , Bayside band blue , Master blaster orange , Seagull red , and Freedom Band yellow , just as there is a mixture of black , white , purple , gold , bronze etc in each of the group , based on their various sub-section. A group may be divided into 10 units with leader who are subordinte to the over all leader just as the colour vary, so as the costumes but all of them have a common features , shaggy , weird scarecrow , peacock ostrich, imperial and Elizabethan . the costumes glitters .theyare carefully made by experienced tailors . Most girls on the five groups wear hair branided in diffrent styles adorned with gloden breads and finer than finest silken strands . These damsels have eyes that are bright and made more conspicuous by the lashes applied . They are always friendly with smiling faces then smooth skin and cheeks are the envy of peach-blows and mouth as inviting as a rosebud, most are tall and wear either splendid gown that trail behind them as they walk or skimpy shirts that reveal their natural favour.
Among the men costumes consist of trousers and T shirt that are covered with embroideried waist coat . the head is covered with bowler hat of England, base ball cap of america or the pyramid cap of the yorubas , they dress in diffrent colours , tarnished spangles tapering to the thorax and shoes of different tone of music . All is aimed at creating awareness about the tourism potential of Cross River state of Nigeria
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