18 little gorillas will be named during this year’s Kwita Izina festivity.

Come this year’s gorilla-naming ceremony commonly known as the Kwita Izina, about 18 new born gorillas will be named, in Kinigi, Musanze District. This event will be held on July 1 and will also mark 10 years of promoting the conservation of the endangered species, under the theme ‘A Decade: Conserving Empowering-Growing.  This was announced yesterday by, the head of tourism and conservation at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Amb. Yamina Karitanyi during a news briefing conference at the RDB head quarters, in Kigali.

She said that this year’s celebration will focus on giving back to the communities that have been very important in conservation efforts. He added that they  will not only celebrate the births of one of the world’s most endangered species but also the efforts of individuals, different  organizations and nations involved in the preservation of these rare primates.

Rwanda’s community-led conservation efforts have led to a 26.3 per cent growth in the population of gorillas since 2003 and Kwita Izina has been key to this success. Therefore this tenth Kwita Izina will be preceded by different activities starting with the launch of Basumba Primary School in Bigogwe, Nyabihu District on June 26.

There is a six-classroom block built with funds from the Revenue Sharing Scheme which gives 5 per cent of tourism profits from National Parks back to the communities surrounding the gorilla habitat. This year’s event is expected to attract over 300 international visitors, officials said. The list of high profile visitors and ‘namers’ of baby gorillas will soon be released. Kwita Izina ceremony has seen 161 baby gorillas named, since its inception in 2003. Rwanda now has got a total of 295 gorillas.

At the beginning of this year, Kwita Izina won second prize in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Ulysses Awards for Innovation in Public Policy and Governance. It is expected to keep flourishing and attract more tourists each year and thus more revenue.

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