The Kenya Tourism Board officially announced that Kenya will host the first annual ‘Magical Kenya Elephant Naming Festival’, scheduled for August 2021.
The announcement was made by Dr Betty Radier on World Elephant day on August 12 2020, an international event dedicated to the protection and preservation of elephants around the world.
The elephant naming ceremony will involve giving individuals a chance to ‘adopt’ an elephant after contributing towards conservation, according to the African Travel and Tourism Association. The adopter or foster parent will be awarded the opportunity to choose the first name of the elephant.
The elephants second name however will be a Maasai name based on different factors including physical attributes of the animal like the state of its tusks, its history, and the animals profile.
The Maasai are an ethic group of people inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
‘As we commemorate the World Elephant Day this year we feel that there is an opportunity for us to be begin a festival and the beginning of this festival has already been provided as a precursor because the work that has been done with elephants by KWS and other partners is amazing. So, this gives us a good platform to launch the Magical Kenya Elephant naming festival’ said Dr Radier.
Dr Radier also added that the festival could encourage more people to get involved with conservation efforts long with providing an opportunity to learn more about other wildlife species.
As we join the world in celebrating the #WorldElephantDay, we look forward to hosting the inaugural #MagicalKenya Elephant Naming Festival in 2021. pic.twitter.com/Dx94QVdyVh
— Kenya Tourism Board (@magicalkenya) August 12, 2020
Image credit: Pixabay
