(TAN): Rwanda’s 16th Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony will be held virtually on World Gorilla Day, on September 24. This year, 24 baby gorillas that call Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park home will be named by the park staff, the Rwanda Development Board said.
The 16th Kwita Izina will be held on the theme “Conservation and Sustainable Tourism – A Foundation for Future Generations”. The staff who will be part of the ceremony will include the park’s rangers, guides, wardens, trackers and veterinary doctors, among others.
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World Gorilla Day marks the day that renowned gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967. It is a day that encourages people around the globe to join conservation efforts to protect gorillas in the wild.
This year’s virtual event will feature updates from the field on how rangers, vets and researchers work everyday to protect gorillas and a handover ceremony of the community project RDB embarked on to improve access to potable water for the communities living around Nyungwe National Park.
The community project is part of the Tourism Revenue Share Programme, in which 10% of total tourism park revenues are invested back into communities, contributing to the development of communities living adjacent to Rwanda’s national parks.
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RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza said: “Having Kwita Izina virtually this year gives us the opportunity to celebrate those who are at the forefront of protecting the endangered mountain gorillas and share Rwanda’s conservation success with Rwandans. We hope to inspire everyone to visit our beautiful country and experience the wonder of trekking to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Rwanda is open for tourism, and the sector underpins so much of our conservation work.”
The practice of giving a name to a newborn baby, known as ‘Kwita Izina’, has been part of Rwandan culture for centuries. The name attributed to a baby gorilla plays a significant role in the ongoing programme of monitoring each individual gorilla in its family group and habitat.
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The Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony is modelled off a centuries old tradition in which Rwandans name their children in the presence of family and friends. For three decades prior to the first official gorilla naming ceremony, park rangers and researchers named Rwanda’s mountain gorilla babies as part of monitoring each gorilla in their family and habitat.
In 2005, Rwanda began officially naming mountain gorillas in what has become a global celebration of nature. Over the last fifteen years, more than 300 mountain gorillas have been named.
