Mervyn Hugh Cowie
born from Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi in 1909 to Johannesburg’s chief
magistrate where he lived before shifting to Kenya and lived in a hut on a farm
in a place called Kiambu situated in the north-west of Nairobi. Mervyn studied
law and accountancy at Oxford University and at one time he had an experience
through which he learnt that actually man and beast can live in harmony.
On one of his trips
in Nairobi National Park, while by passing a lioness, he had an accident off
his bike while at this lioness lay there watching him, he was seriously injured
and he could not move forth with that heavy bleeding from the cut he sustained
on his leg. While still there lying on the ground, lioness curiously moved
closer to him where he was pinned under his bike’s metals but stopped at a few
feet away from where he was lying.
He was no way of
defending himself and therefore could only look at it waiting what it was to do
next but to his surprise, the lioness sat down and they both looked at each other
for some minutes as he prayed to God that the smell of petrol is much more
powerful than the smell of his own blood otherwise it would attack him if it
smelt blood. After some time, the lioness walked away.
Following this
incident, Cowie said he managed to grow up at a faster rate. He was able to
understand that man and beast have got to respect each so they can live in
harmony, they do not have to keep killing each other. To do this, man has got to act first by
learning how to control and get rid of
his desire to kill the animals and beast also the animals should be got a
secure place where they can live with protection from those who wish to harm
them, they will learn to respect humans eventually.
During the last
months of 1945, the government established national parks and then appointed
trustees among which Cowie was appointed executive director and in December
1946, the Nairobi National Park was established and followed by the
establishment of the Tsavo National Park, Aberdare and Mount Kenya Parks,
Amboseli and many more like the Serengeti in Tanzania. According the reports,
Cowie is said to be the brain behind the protection and conservation of Kenya’s
wildlife as well as the wilderness areas and his idea is till respected till to
date.
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