The ceremony known as Kwiti Izina, which means ‘naming’ begun in 2003 based on the Rwandan naming ceremony which was once reserved just for humans.
This naming ceremony would bring together families, friends and neighbors in a feast where a child is heralded with a name.
Similarly, Kwita Izina initiative was developed to recognize publicly and appreciate not only the gorilla’s rarity but also their unique family oriented existence and their contribution to the communities that surround them and the Rwandan economy respectively.
The party thrown annually sees local villagers usually in attendance, dignitaries, heads of state, international celebrities neighbors, friends of this nation, conservationists and animal enthusiasts to join Rwanda in naming newborn gorillas and engage the communities around them to ensure these national treasures continue to grow and thrive in their nature-designated habitat.
This ceremony is a celebration of not only the growth in the endangered gorilla population but recognition of the success in conservation from the communities around the parks and our partners.
“In addition, this celebration, which is only unique to Rwanda, is drawn from our very own tradition, where we name newly born babies.” “We adopted this and we have been naming the mountain gorillas at birth, an event that has gathered momentum and become a big tourist attraction,” said Rica Rwigamba, Head of Rwanda Tourism and conservation at Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
“The Kwita Izina ceremony is an opportunity for us to recognise people who have played a critical role in conservation,” She said.
The Mountain gorillas are an endangered species. At present, there are only 800 mountain gorillas worldwide. Rwanda harbours a larger percentage of this total and has always endeavored to protect the gorillas.
Rwanda’s Volcano National Park located in the North is home to 300 mountain gorillas.
Since 2005, 161 gorillas have been named which led to a 26.3% growth in the population of gorillas.
Several individuals have formally given a name to a baby gorilla including the President of the Republic of Rwanda Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame, actress Nathalie Portman, Actor Don Cheadle, Jack Hanna, the Late Stephen Robert Irwin, a renowned conservationist and Uganda’s Gaetano Kaggwa, among others.
Rwanda’s community conservation work around the clock to raise awareness to the population of 800 endangered species worldwide, in the hope that one day, gorillas will be scrapped off their world’s most endangered animals list whose threats still remain such as habitat loss and poaching,
Efforts to protect the mountain gorillas have begun to bear fruits and the numbers of gorillas are increasing annually. This year 12 gorillas will be named.
The name are essential as they easy the daily monitoring of the endangered primates.
Kwita Izina also creates awareness of the need to conserve and protect the remaining population of less than 800 mountain gorillas in the hope that one day, gorillas will be scrapped off the world’s most endangered animals list.
Everybody is free to participate during Kwita Izina. We always have the local communities neighbouring the park, local and international guests participating.
Each year the ceremony comes with a different theme based on what is being promoted during the particular year.
Over the past years, the festivities have come with different themes including: Sustainable Tourism in towards a greener economy— 2012, Community development for sustained conservation—2011 and Many Species, One Planet, One Future— 2010 among others.
This year’s theme is dubbed ‘celebrating nature and empowering communities.’
“By commemorating this event, we are celebrating incredible successes in the conservation of the mountain gorilla and the continued partnership with the community that plays host to the mountain gorillas,” Rwigamba added.
As a resultant of Kwiti Izina Rwanda’s tourism sector has seen a growth in gorilla treks, receiving about 80 tourists who come to visit gorillas daily.
Rwanda also hosted an estimate of 493,744 visitors in the first semester 2012 corresponding to an increase of 22% compared to 2011 in the same period and recorded a remarkable 16% increase in leisure visitors as well as an 8% increase in business visitors.
The tourism sector generated $281.8m (Rwf178 billion) during 2012 compared to $251.3m in 2012 a growth of 16 per cent, according Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
Rwanda places conservation and community development at the core of the sustainable tourism agenda.
RDB recently increased the price of gorilla permits to 750$ which will consequently also increase the contribution to the communities as well as the activities in conservation.