Nigeria

Postcard of the Durbar Festival, an event celebrated in various Nigerian cities to mark the end of Muslim Eid holidays. It begins with prayers, followed by a horseback parade of local leaders and their entourage, accompanied by musicians, and ending at the leader's palace.

Many thanks to friend Oliver, who was in Nigeria for a friend's wedding, for adding this tough country to the collection.

Stamp showing the Argungu Fishing Festival, a yearly fishing tournament that takes place in northwestern Nigeria. The festival began in 1934, to mark of the end of centuries of hostility between two local rulers. Competitors are only allowed to use traditional fishing tools and many prefer to catch fish entirely by hand to demonstrate their prowess. Nigeria released another stamp on the same subject in 1973.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Postcard of a beach on Providenciales, the most populated island in the British territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, though not the capital, which is diminutive Cockburn Town with just 8,000 residents. The beaches in the Turks and Caicos are regularly voted among the best in the world, and are a popular winter holiday destination for North Americans. Turks and Caicos are also notable in that there has been, over the years, discussions of the territory becoming a part of Canada. When Britain began decolonising the Caribbean, the locals were not in favour of joining an independent Bahamas, which had been Britain's original intention. The islands not feeling they could become independent themselves, idea was therefore floated of giving them to Canada. The Canadian government was not interested in becoming a new colonial power, but the idea still pops up in the media from time to time. – No doubt the notion of owning a slice of palm tree paradise appeals to many in the Great White North!

The island group is on Britain's Tentative List for World Heritage. Many thanks to friend Scott who fled the Canadian cold for the turquoise shores of T&C!

Stamp shows Astraea brevispina, a species of sea snail found in the Caribbean, from a 2007 set of 15 featuring shells and sea snails. 

Belarus

Postcard showing Grodno Regional Drama Theatre in Grodno (Гродна), a historic city in eastern Belarus not far from the borders of Poland and Lithuania.

Permanent rate definitive stamp featuring traditional Belarusian textile designs from a set of two issued in 2012.