Author shot amid Kenya drought crisis
NAIROBI, KENYA— The Italian-born author and conservationist Kuki Gallmann was shot at her Kenyan ranch and airlifted for treatment after herders invaded in search of pasture to save their animals from drought, officials said Sunday.
Gallmann, known for her bestselling book I Dreamed of Africa, which became a movie by the same name starring Kim Basinger, was patrolling the ranch in Laikipia when she was shot in the stomach, local police chief Ezekiel Chepkowny said.
The 73-year-old Gallmann had been with rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service, assessing damage done to her property Saturday by arsonists who burned down buildings at one of Laikipia Nature Conservancy’s tourism lodges, Laikipia Farmers Association chair Martin Evans said.
Rangers transported her to a location where she could be airlifted to Nanyuki town, Evans said. British Army medics attended to her before she was airlifted to Nairobi, he said.
On Sunday, Evans said Gallmann was in stable condition after surgery but had serious injuries. He cited a family member. Richard Constant, the association’s deputy chair, said suspicion falls on herders from the Pokot community who have invaded Gallmann’s ranch several times in the past. Lodges belonging to Gallmann were burned by the herders last month.
Kenya is facing a drought that has affected half the country and has been declared a national disaster. Herders and large-scale farmers in parts of the Rift Valley have been desperately waiting for seasonal rains that were to start last month.