Rwanda is set to name some 24 baby mountain gorillas on September 24 due to COVID-19 restrictions, APA learnt on Monday.
A statement issued by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said the prestigious annual event commonly known as “Kwita Izina” (Name attribution, in the Kinyarwanda language) will coincide with World Gorilla Day.
Among other different activities that will characterize the event, include the launching of community projects to benefit populations living near the country’s national parts as well as the conservation conference which will also be hosted virtually.
“We are pleased to announce that this year’s Kwita Izina ceremony will be held on 24 September 2021 in a virtual ceremony. For the second time, the event will coincide with the celebration to mark World Gorilla Day”.
“This year, Rwanda is inviting the world to be part of the ultimate celebration of life as 24 new born baby gorillas are named during the Kwita Izina ceremony. Since the inception of the flagship event in 2005, 328 baby gorillas have been named,” said Ariella Kageruka, the Acting Chief Tourism Officer (CTO) at RDB.
The gorilla naming ceremony comes at a time when the tourism sector is experiencing a slow but steady recovery, with the situation expected to improve in the coming months as the country continues to vaccinate more people.
According to Kageruka, this year’s Kwita Izina celebration will showcase Rwanda’s conservation efforts, including the health of the mountain gorillas and the need to expand their habitat.
It will also be an opportunity to highlight the partnership RDB has with communities adjacent to the national parks, Kageruka said.
In a bid to improve the livelihoods of communities surrounding the parks, RDB invests 10 percent of tourism revenues back in the populations around the parks under the Tourism Revenue Share Program, as a way of enabling wildlife conservation, among other things.
The programme which was initiated in 2005, benefits communities living around the four national parks, namely Akagera National Park, Nyungwe National Park, Volcanoes National Park and Rwanda’s newest national park; the Gishwati-Mukura National Park.
“Since, 2005 Over Rwf 6.5 billion has been invested in 780 community projects in the following key sectors: agriculture, infrastructure, and education, among others,” Kageruka said.
“Despite financial challenges due to the covid-19, this year, close to Rwf 700 million are being invested in 30 community projects with the majority in agriculture and infrastructure for communities,” she added.
The Governor of Northern Province, Dancilla Nyirarugero, said that residents of Northern Province are thankful to the government of Rwanda in general, thanks to community projects implemented by RDB, which have transformed their lives.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are only 1,063 mountain gorillas living in the wild, in parks straddling Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
CU/as/APA