Kuki Gallmann (1 June 1943[1]— ) is an Italian writer and poet. Born in Treviso, Veneto, she moved to Kenya in 1972 with her husband and son and is now a Kenyan citizen. She wrote several books about her life in Africa, all of them in English; the best known is I Dreamed of Africa. A movie adaptation of the book, starring Kim Basinger, was made in 2000. She lives in Kenya with her daughter, and she manages several social, environmental and scientific projects. Her son died of a snake bite. Her husband Paolo died in a car accident.
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As a teenager she went with her father to Africa visiting the Sahara Desert. In 1970 she visited again and fell in love with the land. She moved to Kenya with her second husband Paolo and her son Emanuele in 1972.
Between 1972 and 1980 they acquired Ol Ari Nyiro, a 100,000 acre (400 km²) cattle ranch, on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, in Northern Kenya where they created the first ever anti poaching squad to protect the largest population of Black Rhino in Africa and large populations of elephants, buffalo and leopards. Kuki became deeply involved with conservation.
In 1980 her husband was killed in an automobile accident while bringing a crib home for their unborn baby. Three years later her 17-year old son Emanuele died of a snake bite while trying to extract viper venom for antiserum.
Kuki founded the Gallmann Memorial Foundation in honor of Paolo and Emanuele and dedicated her life to saving the environment and wildlife of Kenya.
Kuki divides her time between Ol Ari Nyiro, Nairobi, international speaking engagements, and writing.
Gallmann initiated schemes for essential oils extraction from indigenous plants, to protect African biodiversity.
She is a Founder Member and Director of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum, the Ecotourism Society of Kenya, the Laikipia Nature Conservancy Trust and the Association of Private Land Rhino Sanctuaries; and Chairman of the Education committee of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum that aims to make African ecology part of Kenya primary school curriculum.
Gallmann is a member of the Olave Baden Powell Society, a goodwill ambassador for the African Medical Research Foundation and their Flying Doctors Outreach Program, a member of the Kenya Tourist Board Creative Committee, and the chairman of the 2001 WTM design subcommittee.
One of her major interests is creating living spaces, harmonious buildings and naturally inspired interior decoration. She personally designed and built the Mukutan Retreat on the estate and has completed Makena's Hills, an eco-tourism Health Centre above the Rift Valley, which opened December 2001.
In 1989 Gallmann received His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands' Order of the Golden Ark Award for outstanding services to conservation in Kenya and for promoting the study of local plants for medicinal purposes. She has received an honorary degree in Human Sciences at the University of St. Lawrence and has been nominated for the Italian presidential award Cavaliere all'Ordine della Repubblica Italiana. She was awarded the Founder's Award by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York in 2001 and the Mimosa d'Oro for the Woman of the Year Award in Catania, Italy in April 2001.
In 2001 it was reported that Gallmann was being sued by 915 Kenyan tribespeople because of the alleged violence of her mass eviction of them from her land during a drought. It was alleged that in the eviction women were raped and many cattle were killed or stolen.[2]