For thousands of years lions have roamed the area we call Nairobi today. Humans have also co-existed with wildlife in this area for thousands of years. However within the last 120 years there have been dramatic changes due to rapid human developments. The area immediately south of central Nairobi used to be known as “commonage” in the 1920’s & 1930’s, and military guns used to fire practice rounds across the plains during the second world war. It was thanks to the efforts of people like Mervyn Cowie that the Nairobi National Park became the first National park to be gazetted in Kenya on the 16th of December 1946 .