The Kwita Izina 2013 festival is set

The Rwanda Development Board’s Tourism together with the Conservation Department will be holding their annual Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony for this year on 22nd June at Kinigi just outside the Volcano National Park and during the event, about a dozen newborn gorilla babies will be given names. One of these gorillas was born just two days ago by Muganga from the Isabukuru group bringing a lot of joy to the park staff, conservationists and tourism fraternity at large.  Its sex is yet to be determined sex.

The people selected by RDB to perform the actual naming during the high profile ceremony are usually given about 2-3 names as they may be proposed by the rangers and the wardens looking after the gorilla groups but normally, they choose the names depending on the circumstances of the birth, make reference to the location or reflect the mood of the group at the time.

For over years, the Kwita Izina has developed into a week long celebration during which conferences are organized and lots of workshops that are dedicated to conservation, community projects that are beneficial to the people living around the Volcanoes National Park, there are sports activities and society events that are used to mark Rwanda’s firm commitment to looking after these gentle giants of the Virunga mountains which are the gorillas mainly.

The event has become so famous that travelers from around the world every year to visit Rwanda to attend the annual Festival of the Gorillas which is unique because it is not done in any other countries where mountain gorillas are found like Uganda and Congo.