Kwita Izina 2021 – 24 Baby Gorillas to be named

Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda. Gorilla Tracking, Kwita Izina 2021
Mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes National Park Rwanda. Photo by Moses Nezehose

Kwita Izina 2021 will be held on 24th September marking the annual baby gorilla naming ceremony. The mountain gorilla naming ceremony was started by the Rwandan government to improve on mountain gorilla conservation. The Kwita Izina 2021 this time around sides with the World Gorilla Day Celebration and will be a very remarkable event.

24 baby mountain gorillas are expected to be named this year by various honored guests. Gorilla tourism in Rwanda is now fully open, but Kwita Izina 2021 will still be held virtually just like last year. All this is aimed at protecting the rare primates and a way of making it easy for those who cant visit Rwanda because of the travel restrictions. 

The honored guests who will name the gorillas are yet to be revealed but we can’t wait to know them. 9 of the baby gorillas to be named were born in families protected by the Dian Fossey fund. There has been a lot of efforts towards mountain gorilla conservation and the increase in births is a sign of improvement.

Over the years, the mountain gorilla population in Volcanoes National Park has kept on increasing steadily. With more efforts on conservation and habitat protection, there is hope that population will increase even more.

The Kwita Izina 2021 is a great timing for tourism as the sector is slowly recovering from the COVID19 slump.

About Mountain Gorillas

Mountain gorillas are apes that live in the forested mountains of East and Central Africa. They live in families led by a dominant male mountain gorilla commonly known as Silverback.

Gorillas are vegetarian and their diet is usually comprised of plant leaves and bamboo shoots. They have over 95% DNA similar to humans are therefore among man’s closest primate species.

Gorilla Trekking

If you desire to meet these rare primates in their most preferred habitats then gorilla trekking would be the ideal activity to do. There are 12 mountain gorilla families in Volcanoes National Park open to tourist visitation. The gorilla trek starts with a briefing at the Park headquarters and then tourists are led to the forested mountains.

Gorilla Trekking takes a 2 to 6 hours hike or more and once you get to the gorillas you are allowed to spend 1 hour up-close keeping a 7 meters distance. Here you get to know more the mountain gorillas, take photos and enjoy the moments.

Volcanoes National Park Rwanda has the highest gorilla population in the Virunga Massif. This makes it one of the best mountain gorilla trekking destinations in the region. Visit Rwanda this September and be apart of the Kwita Izina 2021 and apart of the unforgettable gorilla trekking experiences.