In Rwandan tradition, a new baby is welcomed into the community with a special naming ceremony a few days after they are born. The whole family gathers to suggest names and pick the perfect one. Kwita Izina takes that lovely tradition and uses it for baby gorillas as well.
Each year, the park rangers identify every gorilla baby born in the past 12 months - usually around 20 to 30 babies. They write down each baby's family, its parents' names, and how it has been growing. Then they choose a special guest 'namer' for each baby. Past namers have included Rwandan schoolchildren, famous singers, footballers, conservationists and presidents.
On the day of the ceremony, the namers stand on a big stage in front of thousands of people. Each one steps forward and reads out the name they have chosen for their baby gorilla, often with a short story about why they picked it. Names might mean 'hope', 'sunshine', 'strong one' or 'mountain' in Kinyarwanda. The crowd cheers each name.
Kwita Izina is a happy celebration of how well Rwanda's gorillas are doing. When the ceremony started in 2005, there were only a few hundred mountain gorillas left. Today there are around 1,000, and the number is growing. The naming ceremony is a way to say: every new baby matters, and we are looking after them all.