There were about 19 baby gorillas which were named during the Kwita Izina ceremony held in Kinigi- Musanze district situated along the Virunga Mountain Foot in the Northern Province. It was such an exciting ceremony which included the naming a set of twins and one female adult, and it attracted thousands of people who included the members of the diplomatic corps, foreign dignitaries, and journalists from all over the world and conservationists from of the world, among so many other people thus making the event much more international than expected.
The Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi was the guest of honor on this 8th edition of the Kwita Izina ceremony. It was he and a few others identified who selected the names that they gave to the 19 babies which names included Impeta and Umudende that they gave to the twins. There is one he named Gikundiro which is translated as the beautiful one and he said he had given it that named it was identified as the most cute a and most lovely baby gorilla.
Richard Rugimbana the Chairman of East Africa Tourism Platform was also given an opportunity to a gorilla which she called Akarabo meaning beautiful flower. According to the Prime Minister, such an occasion helps to exhibit the fact that Rwanda is committed towards conservation of gorillas and that this event will stay an important occasion on the national calendar and this will help the government achieve its goal its goal of balancing the material needs of our people with safe-guarding the environment he added.
He also appreciated all the international people like the tourists, journalists among other for honoring the event as that is very helpful in terms of marketing Rwanda’s most cherished animals and hence will lead to an increase in the number of tourists who visit the country. He also encouraged the community around the Volcano National Park to protect the gorillas as they are a huge source of money that they use to improve the livelihood of those same surrounding communities.
According to the records they managed to get $9.6 million from gorillas last year but now have to wait and see how they will perform given the fact that the gorilla permits were increased by 50 percent in all categories; international, regional and nationals.
John Gara, the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) asked all people in Rwanda to work with the government to protect the mountain gorillas. Rica Rwigamba, the Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB appreciates that the tourism industry continues to be the country’s top foreign exchange earner which is why it has to be protected.
Gorilla tracking news