The Joys of Junkanoo

EVERY Christmas and New Year, the Bahamas stages Junkanoo, one of the world's most colourful carnivals.

It is a riot of colour and energy that keeps everyone up all night as revellers bang their drums, blow their trumpets and shake their cowbells in a frenzy of excitement.

Like Rio and New Orleans, Nassau prepares long and hard for this magnificent festival, and tourists fly in from all over the world to see it.

Junkanoo is all about intoxicating rhythms and fantastic costumes. Colour - masses of it - is the dominant theme, and spectators are mesmerised by the creative energy behind every competing group.

This picture is called Junkanoo Woman. It reminds me of one of the great annual delights of Nassau life.

We used to party until midnight, then troop off to Bay Street for Junkanoo, which would last all night until the glorious Bahamas sun rose over Nassau harbour. What a life! What an experience!