At the foot of the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda’s Northern Province, baby gorillas were named as part of the annual gorilla naming ceremony. Traditional Rwandan music filled the air as thousands stood in awe of the graceful dancers. But the climax of the event was the creatures which are far from graceful but generate millions of dollars each year. In every gorilla naming ceremony, selected individuals are given the chance to name baby gorillas. The choices of names are proposed by the rangers on the ground who are with these animals on a daily basis. All the names carry a significant meaning. The names also reflect the circumstances surrounding the birth of the gorillas as well as their location. Among the 20 selected to name this year were prominent figures such as the President of the International Council for Tourism Partners, Prof. Geoffrey Lipman.
In this year’s ceremony the prime minister of Rwanda Pierre Damien Habumuremyi named a baby gorilla on behalf of the Rwandan people.
“The name we are giving this gorilla is a name that all Rwandans agreed upon because they voted for him as the cutest baby gorilla. We are naming him Gikundiro meaning “the beautiful one” He announced.
In total 19 gorillas born in 2011 were named including a set of twins, the first ever in the history of the gorilla naming event. Owing to the economic impact the endangered species of mountain gorillas have on Rwanda’s economy, such events are equated to a greater commitment according to John Gara, the CEO of the Rwanda Development Board which oversees the tourism industry.
“This year’s celebrations comes at a critical time when the degredetation of the eco-systems has reached alarming proportions in many parts of the world, and for us this event is always an opportunity to show our commitment towards the green path of economic growth.” Gara noted.
The success of the conservation of mountain gorillas is found in bringing on board the local community. Through tourism, Musanze district, home to these creatures has been recorded as the third most successful part of the country to combat and eradicate poverty. One resident said “We feel the impact of tourism here in Musanze, our children go to school because they built schools and we also have electricity.”
Rwanda shares the gorilla triangle of the Virunga Mountains with Uganda and the DRC but it is the only country that dedicates an entire festival to the primates. Last year, gorillas generated 9.6 million USD which was part of the 252 USD million revenues generated from the tourism industry.
The Irony however is that Rwanda's gorilla's got names, but it was hard for a visitor to find their way around in Kigali. Reason, the streets in Kigali are not marked. But this too is changing as the signs marking the streets are being propped up in different parts of the city. The exercise will continue for 2 weeks. The project aims to have all roads, avenues and streets have road signs with letters and numbers based on location and district.
And it’s not all about just naming streets. The mayor of Kigali city Fidel Ndayisaba says that the exercise will go along with the use of Google maps to further ease the identification of locations within the city. The city council will partner with American-based technology company, Google Inc to make this happen. This means that wherever anyone maybe, they can be able to access Kigali’s map on Google map and be able to trace the direction to different locations with a lot of ease.
Kigali residents have welcomed this new initiative and first time visitors are especially pleased.
Steve Nzaramba says; “I think it’s a good move, definitely need some direction in the city. Gone are the days of trying to direct somebody by naming trees and buildings and rocks, now we have specific sign posts that tell us where you are, so I think it’s a great move.”
Job Kaleu; “ I have been finding it difficult to get my way around with the streets not named. Kigali having been as clean as it is, it was lacking this basic infrastructure that is the names on the streets, so I think this is quite a useful development to have the streets named.”
The street naming exercise is also expected to boost business. Tourists and other visitors visiting Rwanda’s capital for various reasons will not have to struggle to master the appearance of trees or buildings many of which were have been used to indicate directions.
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