American comedian Kevin Hart and British actor Idris Elba are among the celebrities naming gorillas in Rwanda.
Rwanda holds a gorilla naming ceremony known as Kwita Izina every year.
Traditionally, the annual ceremony considered as a celebration of conservation, has been held in Musanze (northern Rwanda) at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park, home to Rwanda’s mountain gorillas.
With its main goal being to help to monitor each individual gorilla and their groups in their natural habitat, Kwita Izina was created as a means of bringing attention both locally and internationally to the importance of protecting mountain gorillas and their habitat.
This year’s event is scheduled for Friday, September 1 and is in its 19th year. It is expected to attract celebrated figures in sports, leadership, music and entertainment, and film among others.
50-year-old British actor Idris Elba known for his role in films like American Gangster, Thor, Beasts of No Nation, The Harder They Fall, Zootopia and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is among the people naming gorilla babies this Friday.
Elba, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a Primetime Emmy Award winner is credited for his portrayal of Augustin Muganza in 2005 historical drama, Sometimes in April, a tale of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.
RELATED: Singer Camila Cabello feels like “the luckiest person in the world” tracking gorillas in Rwanda
Popular comedian and actor Kevin Hart will be returning to Rwanda for the second time in two months.
Hart was in Rwanda in July alongside his Wife Eniko Hart and kids, where they did a game drive in Akagera National Park and tracked gorillas in Volcanoes National Park.
The family also paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
This year, a total of 23 gorillas born in the last 12 months will be named.
The other namers include Elba’s wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, Asa (Nigerian-French singer-songwriter and recording artiste), Sol Campbell (ex Arsenal and England footballer), actress Danai Jekesai Gurira (Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame), actor Winston Duke (Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War) and Andrew Mitchell (UK legislator and Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office).
Rwanda is home to about 600 mountain gorillas all found in Volcanoes national park which borders Virunga national park (DRC) and Mgahinga national park (Uganda). Gorillas are Rwanda’s most prized tourist attraction and the country has gone to great lengths to conserve the endangered species.
Previously, celebrities including football stars Bukayo Saka, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel Di Maria, Marquinhos and Sergio Ramos, and singer Mr Eazy (Nigeria) have named gorillas in Rwanda.
