On Friday, scores of conservationists gathered at the Koru National Park in Kitui County to commemorate the 30th anniversary of George Adamson.
George Adamson was a British environmentalist whose abiding love for the big cats knew no boundaries.
It is his passionate work of rehabilitating orphaned lions that earned him his way into the hearts of those who love wildlife.
That work catapulted Kenya onto the global map and earned him the designation of Father of Lions.
"He is the founding father of wildlife conservation in Africa. His heroic actions, sacrifice and legacy remain an unfailing inspiration to many across the world," KWS Senior Warden Baraka Chongwa said.
Adamson found a home in Kora and stayed there for over two decades before he was joined by Tony Fitzjon according to a tweet by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
The two friends shared a passion for rehabilitating orphaned lions and leopards.
Mr Adamson's life inspired a bewildering array of films and television series including Born Free, Living Free, To Walk with the Lions, Lord of the Lions, The Lions Are Free, An Elephant Called Slowly.
He was shot dead in 1989 by the dreaded Shifta bandits when he was 89 and was buried at a site in the Koru National Park.
The KWS records show that his brutal murder was made possible by people who were angry at his successes with his pioneering rehabilitation work.