Rwanda Announces Date for its Landmark 20th Kwita Izina | International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

Rwanda Development Board has announced 5^th September as the new date for the 20^th Kwita Izina Mountain gorilla naming ceremony. The landmark event to celebrate 20 years of Rwanda’s long-standing commitment to mountain gorilla conservation through the Kwita Izina initiative will be held at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park and is expected to  attract hundreds of conservationists.

The event happens after missing a year of mountain gorilla naming due to a Marburg Virus outbreak in 2024.  Before the outbreak, RDB announced the naming of 22 baby gorillas but unfortunately this did not happen. Both last year and this year’s baby gorillas will be named at this colorful ceremony.  The gorilla babies to be named and the namers have not been revealed yet, we are however keen to share any information on Kwita Izina as it comes in.

The Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony is modelled off a centuries-old tradition in which Rwandans name their children in the presence of family and friends. For three decades before the first official gorilla naming ceremony, park rangers and researchers named Rwanda’s mountain gorilla babies to monitor each gorilla in their family and habitat. In total, 374 baby gorillas have been named since the first Kwita Izina was held in 2005.