Rwanda and the rest of the world enjoyed the 10th Kwita Izina cerebrations

Most of the residents of Musanze District in Northern Province joined thousand of other people from the whole world to celebrate the 10th edition of gorilla-naming ceremony, Kwita Izina. They played ‘host and family’ to several visitors from across the world who were interested in being apart of the ceremony.

This annual event, always held in Kinigi Village on the edge of the Virunga Mountains, and this year, it brought together more than 40,000 residents of Musanze and nearly 500 international guests and this year’s being the tenth edition of the ceremony, it was a celebration of the country’s achievements in conservation.

The 18 baby gorillas received names that reflect different wishes for the good health of the country and the animals and some of the names given included Ndengera which means protect me, Inzozi which means dreams, Imikino to means sports and Tebuka to mean hurry through.

The fangoers later staged a feast that saw merrymaking in celebration of what Rwanda has achieved in conservation of Mountain Gorillas, an endangered species.  According to the records, many more gorillas were born last year and it increased the total population of the primates to more than 600 in the Virunga trans boundary parks, which Rwanda shares with Uganda and DR Congo.

Rwanda is using intensive conservation efforts confirmed by the chief executive of the Rwanda Development Board, Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza who said while talking to the participants at the event that the increase in Mountain Gorilla numbers is due to the fact that the Government of Rwanda is tirelessly collaborating with the communities neighboring the park and other conservation partners.

She said they appreciate the role played by the local communities in ensuring sustainable conservation of the Volcanoes National Park, specifically towards the protection of the gorillas and their habitat. In the own words she said that “we believe that in the empowerment of our local communities, we also gain sustainable tourism development.” And that is partly thanks to gorilla conservation that Rwanda’s tourism sector has been growing at a remarkable pace in the last few years that last year Rwanda was able to host 1,137,000 visitors and these generated $294 million, up from $62 million as it was in 2000. This is a huge improvement  and performance should keep improving every year.

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