Kwita Izina past event in Kinigi, Musanze district
Rwanda has postponed the Gorilla naming ceremony commonly known as Kwita Izina, an important event in Rwanda’s tourism/conservation landscape.
In its 20th edition, Kwita Izina, an annual event that converges to Rwanda the world celebrities in areas of sports, entertainment, politics, conservation, to name but a few, was scheduled to take place on October 18 in its renowned venue of Kinigi, Musanze, in the foothill of volcano national park.
In a press conference, September 25, the then Chief Tourism Officer at Rwanda Development Board(RDB) had promised that the event would be uniqjue.
“This year’s Kwita Izina marks a significant milestone as we celebrate 20 years of this flagship event. We will be naming 22 baby gorillas, and we are excited to welcome past and new Namers from around the world, whose names will be revealed in the coming days,” she said then.
The Kwita Izina ceremony, which has named 395 baby mountain gorillas since its inception, is part of Rwanda’s broader effort to protect the country’s wildlife and natural ecosystems. These efforts, alongside sustainable ecotourism, have helped Rwanda achieve remarkable growth in its tourism sector, which generated over USD 620 million in revenue from 1.4 million visitors in 2023. Gorilla tourism alone contributes 1% of Rwanda’s GDP and is a key driver of local community development.
Reasons for postponement were not shared in RDB’s communique tonight.
Rwanda is working hard to prevent more spread of Marburg virus, with 58 confirmed cases, 12 recovered patients and 13 fatalities as of October 8.
The country has no travel restrictions, and no interruption whatsoever in businesses. The citizens are however advised to observe Ministry of health guidelines of hand washing, not sharing stuffs like clothes or touching a person who is suspected or diagnosed with the virus.
In the public however, churches, schools and other public venues are advised to, not only provide hand-washing infrastructure, but also to measure the temperature of people.
Rwanda has started vaccinating its citizen against Marburg Virus, and, the exercise started on October 7 with front desk workers who are working to stop the virus, including the medical personnel.
RDB wrote in the communique shared on twitter, that a new date for the iconic event will be communicated.
