Kwita izina is one of Rwanda’s distinct tourism products drawing thousands of spectators from all parts of the world coming to witness this joyful day of celebrating new birth. The ceremony was launched in 2005 by the Rwanda Development Board and entails giving newborn baby gorillas various names just like the naming of babies in Rwandan traditional families. Since 2005, approximately 216 gorillas have been named within the 10 habituated gorilla families in the volcanoes national park and the number is expected to increases as the ceremony continues.
For this year (2017), gorilla naming ceremony will take place on 1st September and thousands of people in the primates and gorilla spheres from all parts of the world are expected to grace the ceremony. The babies to be named are those that were born after the last year’s naming and in this 2017. The upcoming kwita izina ceremony will mark the 13th ceremony since 2005 when the first gorillas were named.
Names given are in Kinyarwanda traditional language depending on the past and present situations, the time and place of birth plus the future expectations. Specific guests both travelers, conservationists and researchers are invited to name these gorillas and thousands of people both local and international attend to witness this ceremony.
The gorilla naming ceremony takes place in kinigi at the headquarters of volcanoes national park where various groups of super dancers are always present to entertain the ceremony making it so enjoyable.
The major purpose of gorilla naming is to promote the extensive awareness of gorilla tourism and the importance of the protection of these endangered species in their natural habitats both at the community, national, regional and global level. More still, kwita izina aims at easing the monitoring of each individual gorilla in his or her respective family. The ceremony is all supervised by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) a government body responsible for wildlife conservation, tourism, and new product development and marketing in Rwanda.
Besides gorilla naming ceremony, Rwanda offer you with other amazing experiences such as gorilla trekking and golden monkey trekking in the volcanoes national park, chimpanzee trekking and canopy walk in Nyungwe forest national park and wildlife safaris in Akagera national park among others. A combination of these makes a full package of a gorilla safari in Rwanda assuring you with a memorable experience.
Conclusively therefore, gorilla naming ceremony is a unique tourism product only done in Rwanda. All travelers should therefore attend the up coming Kwita Iziina for a phenomenal experience.