Isabukuru Family, one of the 20 groups of mountain gorillas gazetted for research and tourism in Volcanoes National Park welcomed a rare gift of twins born to Isaro yesterday. According to Belise Kariza, the Chief Tourism Officer at Rwanda Development Board, the birth of the twins is great news to the tourism sector because it’s so rare. “We are extremely happy to report the birth of twins that occurred today. The birth of twins is very rare; only 4 births have been recorded in last 12 years. The first set of twins was born in 2004 when Nyabitondore gave birth to twins Impano and Byishimo in Susa family,” Kariza said during an interview yesterday. According to her, the two twins were named by President Paul Kagame and the First Lady, Jeannette Kagame. She added that then, very few people, including researchers did not believe the female could raise both twins because handling two babies is difficult adding on to other biological factors but in all three previous cases of giving birth to twins, females have successfully raised them and some are now mothers. Isaro, a 17 year old was prior to getting the twins, already a mother of; Keza and Icyororo. “The twins bring the number of baby gorillas to 14 born since June 2015 and they will be named at the 12th Kwita Izina ceremony. The 24 gorillas named in September 2015 are doing well, thanks to the park protection and conservation programmes which ensure daily monitoring of the gorillas and their habitat,” she added. Kariza also said that they cant anticipate how many gorillas will be born until the gorilla naming day but on average between 13-24 babies have been named each year since the naming ceremony started in 2005. She further added that successful reproduction, such as the twins contribute to their increase, and in turn the increase is a clear indicator of successful conservation efforts.
