KWITA IZINA 11 – 30.000 RWANDANS JOIN PRESIDENT KAGAME TO CELEBRATE CONSERVATION
(Posted 06th September 2015)
(President Paul Kagame arrives in Kinigi for Kwita Izina 11)
The largest spectator crowd ever assembled yesterday at the Kwita Izina showground near the headquarters of the Volcanos National Park in Kinigi, joining hundreds of VIP’s and invited guests from over 30 countries to celebrate the country’s conservation successes.
Since the launch of the event in 2005 has Kwita Izina now grown into a weeklong festival of conservation, with conferences, art and photo exhibitions, community project launches and awards for outstanding contributions in the field of conservation.
The climax of the week long celebrations came yesterday with 24 new born gorillas being named, again adding a significant increase to the population of these primates and taking them a step closer to long term survival as there is indeed strength in numbers. Yesterday’s event raised the number of those gorilla babies named – and one semi grown up who joined the Sabinyi family three years ago from an un-habituated group in Congo named ‘Umutungo’ by this correspondent – to nearly 200 of these gentle giants of the Virunga mountains.
Among the ‘Namers’ was Zambia’s Dr. Hans J. Heuer MIH, a leading member of Zambia’s private sector driven Tourism Marketing Council and notably Simon Naylor, whose Phinda Wildlife Reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal had donated 7 lions for relocation to the Akagera National Park a few weeks ago. Other ‘Namers’ came from as far as the United States and across the continent in Ghana, from Eastern Africa and from within Rwanda. Sponsorship too this year reached unprecedented levels with RwandAir flying in over 30 media personnel and tour operators. In fact was Rwanda’s corporate Who is Who listed as sponsors from the Bralirwa Brewery over the continent’s leading banks to hotels like the Kigali Serena, Kigali’s famous Bourbon Coffee and many other service providers.
(The traditional thatched huts where the ‘Namers’ are briefed and dressed up in Rwandese fashion)
(A mammoth crowd of over 30.000 excited local residents joined into the Kwita Izina 11 celebrations)
(The ‘Namers’ all dressed up and getting ready before being escorted to the main stage by a costumed gorillas)
While other speakers highlighted the challenges and successes of wildlife conservation and the steady rise of visitor numbers to Rwanda, did President Kagame – his full address in local vernacular is available via the link below – urge Rwandan’s to kick poverty out of their lives and use the opportunities made available through economic progress, including tourism of course. President Kagame himself was a ‘Namer’ at the inaugural event in 2005 when he named a rare twin baby Byishimo – meaning ‘Happy’ in the local language – who was born to Nyabitondore of the Susa family on the 20th of May 2005. Now over 10 years old is this gorilla reaching maturity and will soon turn into a silverback and very likely form his own family.
While the naming ceremony and the Kwita Izina 2015 week is now over lies another year of hard work ahead. Poaching, in particular out of the Congolese side of the Virunga’s, remains a constant threat and community outreach programmes are crucial to continuously remind the local population of the need to embrace conservation and leaving the park land alone, in other words refraining from cultivating, foraging and collecting firewood. Community benefits like the newly launched Bisate public library and computer lab for enhanced studies, health centres, water tanks and pipes to make life easier are just some of the give back paid from income share arrangements to these communities who live along the park. With such accomplishments can Rwanda stand tall among the other Eastern African countries, where as was the case in Tanzania in recent years, conservation was overtaken by organized poaching of tens of thousands of elephant with government at the time not doing a thing to stem the tide. Thankfully is conservation in Rwanda now engrained in the political and social fabric of the country, setting a shining example for her neighbours. For added information about Destination Rwanda click on www.rwandatourism.com and for President Kagame’s speech use the following link: https://youtu.be/1jfsPBIqRwc
