The long awaited Kwita Izina is finally here on Saturday 5th 2015, the friends and people of the land of a thousand hills will gathering in Musanza district at the foot hill of the Virunga Volcanic mountains, situated north of the country.
This year marks 11 years of the gorilla naming ceremony which will see 25 gorilla babies to be named. These are the new borns since last year’s ceremony.
Looking at this year’s theme “Conserving now and for the future” is intended to applaud the efforts of the local communities for their role played in sustainable tourism of especially the mountain gorillas. At this occasion, awards will be given as a way of encouraging local communities for the continuos role in the preservation of the environment for the future.
While addressing the congregation at this year’s celebrations, the Rwanda Development Board’s Chief Tourism Officer, Ambassador Yamina Karitanyi, says that Kwita Izina comes as part of a broader conservation initiative. She reiterates that through Kwita Izina, Rwanda not only celebrates baby gorillas, but also acknowledges the impact that local communities have had on sustained conservation inputs.
In her speech she acknowledges the efforts of the park rangers, guides, conservation groups and local communities to take a step to protect the mountain gorilla habitant and for the other wildlife at large.
The behavior of naming a new born gorillas originated from our African values of recognizing the birth of a new baby in the family. Therefore naming a newly born baby gorilla is a way of appreciating the life of the mountain gorillas and spreading it out to the whole world.
Its very important to recognize the efforts of the Government of Rwanda, through the Rwanda Development Board, and in collaboration with various conservation partners and local communities, to actively protect the Mountain Gorillas and their habitat, the old naming century’s tradition was modeled on these species to get the national brand known as “Kwita Izina”.
In conclusion, the gorilla naming celebration is an excellent idea of recognizing the value of a life of a mountain gorilla and reaching out to the whole world about the lives and need to protect the survival of mountain gorillas.
