The little known story of Nairobi National Park

Tourists take photos of a lion at the Nairobi National park, Nairobi. (Elvis Ogina/ Standard)

Does the name Mervyn Cowie ring a bell?  Perhaps not. Save for his colour, not many people would recognize Cowie were he to walk in the streets of Nairobi today. He had “characteristically quiet-spoken sentences,” according to the March 1966 issue of Africana Magazine. But as you visit Nairobi National Park, his name ought to be at the back of your mind. Cowie was the man who single handedly fought to set up the only national park within a capital city to date.  

Cowie was born here in April 1909 and trained with the Kings African Rifles during the Second World War. But his love was in safeguarding Africa’s wildlife. As the human population grew Cowie advocated for the establishment of parks and reserves, an idea that was not received well by the colonial authorities.