Mountain gorilla conservation in Rwanda is a global success story, partly due to the significance and value placed on gorillas as part of the nation's culture and heritage, with annual celebrations of baby gorillas being born.

In a sunlit spot of mist-cloaked rainforest, a black, hairy mass of muscle descends surprisingly gracefully down a thick mossy vine. The huge silverback stretches out and settles in for a thorough grooming session from a female, totally unfazed by his human admirers. Two teenagers tumble into view, beating their chests and grimacing at each other, a tangle of limbs in mock combat, while an adorable baby gorilla peers shyly from her mother's arms at the unfolding family drama.

Seeing mountain gorillas in the wild is a magical bucket list experience, but it wasn't always this way. Poachers decimated gorilla numbers in the 1960s and 70s, leaving them at risk of extinction. Then came the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Volcanoes National Park, home to most of Rwanda's mountain gorillas, became a battlefield as the civil war raged across the country, with population numbers struggling to rise above 300.

It's hard to fathom how Rwanda has managed to tackle the challenges of its traumatic past in such a short space of time, let alone become a beacon of conservation success. Yet today, mountain gorillas are the only great ape whose numbers are not rapidly descending. WWF estimates that mountain gorilla numbers have risen 3% every year since 2010, moving them in the right direction from "critically endangered" to "endangered" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – and this success largely comes down to Rwanda's sustained conservation efforts, which include anti-poaching patrols, community engagement and regulated gorilla tourism, all of which have helped to protect habitats and ensure that local people benefit from the survival of these great apes.

Three hundred and ninety-five baby gorillas have been born since 2005 in Rwanda, and each year since then these new arrivals have been celebrated in a uniquely Rwandan way. Kwita Izina, or "to give a name" in the country's national Kinyarwanda language, is Rwanda's huge annual gorilla naming ceremony that honours each gorgeous fuzzy baby born in Volcanoes National Park with a meaningful moniker. The ceremony, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is inspired by the centuries-old Rwandan tradition where families and communities would gather together to name their newborns. Since Kwita Izina began, it has played a major role in raising awareness of gorilla conservation.

"It's a great story of success to mark this progress of a species that was in decline and on the edge," says Praveen Moman, founder of Volcanoes Safaris and the first international tour operator to kickstart gorilla tourism in Rwanda after the genocide. "First it was small and local and symbolic, just for the rangers and those involved in conservation. Now the government has made this an international and recognisable event to highlight conservation success."

Rwandans place great significance on a person's name, and so the button-cute babies are given names based on their personality or events surrounding them at the time of their birth. Last year actor Idris Elba named a baby gorilla "Narame", meaning "long life", because its mother had previously lost two children; and primary school student........

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