Rwanda’s new gorilla family named

The recently identified group of habituated gorillas in Rwanda which will be for tourism purposes has been named Karisimbi which means ‘natural beauty’ and it was named by a famous American actor Isaiah Washington IV and his family during the recently ended 9th edition of Kwita Izina which was held last Saturday under the theme ‘Celebrating Nature meant to, Empowering Communities in Kinigi.  

There were 12 baby gorillas that were named and the youngest was named by Kazuya Ogawa who is the new Japanese Ambassador to Rwanda, Agasore which means the Little Man. Meanwhile other babies were given names by other international stars like Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah Jr, a Nigerian award winning actor,  Dr. Paula Kahumbu, executive director of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust and Wildlife Direct, RifaiTaleb, the secretary general of the World Tourism Organization, Cyprian Chitundu, the managing director of Zesco Ltd from Zambia, Paul Dalgleish, director of sales and marketing at Marriott Hotels, Lieke van Lexmond, a Dutch model, actress and TV presenter as well as Jeffrey David Sachs, the American economist and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

The event attracted over 500 international guests from different countries like Kenya, Guyana, Jamaica, Nigeria, India, the Netherlands, the USA, Zambia, Uganda and so many others but was presided over by the Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi. He then explained that government has set up a scheme and 5% of the total revenues from national parks is given to the communities living around the parks as an incentive to them to protect and conserve the parks and the wildlife in them.     

There are over 280 community projects and 41 sectors across 12 districts have gained from the existence of the projects which include construction of 121 classrooms, 2 dormitories, 7 health facilities, providing communities with 24 water taps, improving on the roads, agriculture, housing and handcraft, among others to ensure that they have a humble life. To day, there are also 16 cooperatives that are dealing in honey production, handicrafts, cassava and maize processing have benefited from US$ 2.5 million.

Clare Akamanzi who is the acting CEO of the Rwanda Development Board has appreciated the role played by the community’s role in the conservation of the mountain gorillas as well as other protected species in all of Rwanda’s national parks. Wildlife is an important source of revenue to the economy of Rwanda therefore should be protected.

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