Kenya will officially host the first annual Magical Kenya Elephant Naming Festival starting August of 2021.
According to Tourism Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala, the event will be held annually as the Magical Kenya Elephant Naming Festival and will go a long way in supporting tourism and wildlife conservation efforts in the country.
The festival is seen as a potential to encouraging more people to engage in conservation efforts and also offering opportunities for partners and well-wishers to learn more about elephants, other wildlife and Kenya’s heritage.
“Protection of wildlife should be supported in all possible ways. We therefore intend to make this event bigger and better towards honouring of elephants in our country” says Balala.
During the Elephant naming ceremony, individuals will have a chance to adopt an elephant after contributing towards conservation. The foster parent (adopter) will then be given priority in choosing the first name of the elephant. The second name will be a Maasai name based on the animal’s profile, history, role in the family, physical attributes like state of tusks.
Elephants are among endangered animal species in Kenya and the World. Despite local and international efforts to control the ivory trade and stop the decline of elephant populations, demand for ivory has remained high, resulting in continued poaching of elephants for their tusks.
With a population of 34,000 elephants Kenya is ranked the fourth in the world and it is hoped that such conservation strategies will boost the numbers for future generations to enjoy.
Source: The Magical Kenya