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We're starting
to get to know the other homecomers in our group. We all had
breakfast and decided to spend the morning exploring downtown
Banjul and doing a bit of shopping on the way.
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| Me
and my stilt-walking friend |
Our guide
was the local main-man, a yellow vested character called Shabba.
Under his influence market stall vendors were kept at bay unless
we approached them, and buses and taxis magically appeared when
we needed them.
It turned
out to be a very enlightening morning and also gave us the chance
to see the football stadium in downtown Banjul. This is where
the official opening ceremony of the whole Festival would take
place later on today.
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| The
ceremony was totally mesmerising |
We quickly
headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and change, and
then all headed back to the stadium for the afternoon opening
ceremony, and what an occasion it was.
The colour
of the costumes, sound of the assembled bands, groups and dancers
was totally mesmerising. Against the excitement of a crowd in
excess of 7,000 people - I stood in front of a huge stilt walker
for a piece to camera introduction.
Lets just
say that concentrating proved a tad tricky with all that background
distraction. The proceedings carried on for around 4 hours,
but as night fell, we took our leave having got some fabulous
footage to get us under way.
Read
about Dave's second day
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