Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda Wildlife Animals – A Culture and Vocabulary Lesson from Akagera National Park
Background of Political and Cultural History – Akagera National Park:
This short lesson will help you become familiar with some of the names for wildlife found in Akagera National Park, Rwanda’s major protected savanna and wetland ecosystem which encompasses a significant portion of the eastern edge of the country. Akagera National Park is named for the river “Akagera” or “Kagera”, which delineates Rwanda’s eastern border with Tanzania.
Akagera National Park as you see it today, a flourishing ecosystem and growing hot-spot for tourists wishing to see the “Big 5” of safari animals (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino), is a unique success story for the conservation world. This now-protected area has faced many challenges historically, especially resulting from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi people in Rwanda. Previously and during the Genocide, the Akagera region was under heavy pressure by humans, including wildlife poaching, unregulated agriculture, genocide-refugee sheltering, and residential development. This had substantial impacts on the state of the native ecosystem and the fragile wildlife species it housed. However, in years following the genocide, there has been a significant, comprehensive effort to protect, rehabilitate, and restore Akagera National Park. This includes a major move to partner with African Parks, an international protected area manager, in 2010.
Listening Pronunciation Activity
This short video by Contact Makeda on YouTube includes clips of animals found in Akagera National Park and the names for them in Kinyarwanda (content starts at 1:20): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZcgmLQ3dSs
Watch the video and listen to the pronunciation of each animal. When the guide says an animal name, repeat the pronunciation out loud.
Now, read this list of all the animal names said in the video. Practice pronouncing each word out loud on your own.
– inzoka – snake
– ikibugu – house fly
– imvubu – hippopotamus
– inzovu – elephant
– intaragi – zebra
– agasumbashyamba – giraffe
– imbogo – African buffalo
– igitera – baboon
– imisambi – Grey Crowned crane
– imvuru – monitor lizard
– isatura – warthog
Notice, there are two animals shown on plaques that aren’t said out loud in the video. Can you guess the pronunciation based on the sounds from the other words? Try out loud then listen to the recording.
– ifi – fish
– inyoni – bird
Animal Object Classes
Kinyarwanda has several different classes for objects/nouns. You might notice that many of the words for animals start with the prefix in- or im-. This is because animals names mostly belong to Class 3. Words in Class 3 are the same whether used in singular or plural form. For example: one cow = inka, 10 cows = inka icumi. This makes learning animals relatively simple. However, there are some exceptions to be aware of, including:
– ikibugu (house fly) – Class 4 – plural form = ibibugu
– igitera (baboon) – Class 4 – plural = ibitera
– isatura (warthog) – Class 5 – plural = amasatura
– ifi (fish) – Class 5 – plural = amafi
And the most charming name – agasumbashyamba (giraffe) which literally translates to “above the forest”. This is a Class 7 word and the plural form is umusumbashyamba.
