Conservationist shot amid raids by herders
Kuki Gallmann seriously hurt
SINCE Kuki Gallmann moved to Kenya in 1972, the conservationist’s life has been plagued by loss and tragedy. Africa cost her the life of her husband, killed in a car accident, and of her 17-year-old son, who died from a snake bite.
And yet instead of returning to a comfortable life in her native Italy, Gallmann stayed, compelled by her love for the land and desire to protect it. She would chronicle her experiences in the bestselling novel I Dreamed of Africa, later turned into a movie starring Kim Basinger.
Now, a wave of misfortune has struck Gallmann again, stemming from months-long violence and drought. The author and conservationist, 73, was driving to her property in Laikipia on Sunday, assessing damage by arsonists at one of her tourism lodges, when her vehicle was ambushed by gunmen. She was shot in the stomach, according to the Laikipia Farmers’ Association.
Rangers with the Kenya Wildlife Service helped her flee, and she was transported to a hospital in Nanyuki, where a British field medic treated her. Then she was flown to a hospital in Nairobi to undergo surgery. Gallmann suffered serious injuries but was in stable condition after surgery, family members said.
Though it is not yet known who is responsible, the gunmen are believed to be cattle-herders who have been invading Gallmann’s land and other ranches in search of grazing land. A fierce drought has driven herders – and tens of thousands of cattle – onto private farms and ranches, local media reported.
Many residents accuse politicians of inciting the violence ahead of the August elections, driving out voters who might oppose them and win votes by promising supporters access to land.
Mathew Lempurkel, the MP for Laikipia North, has already been arrested in connection with the violence. In March, he was arrested in Nairobi for inciting the murder of Tristan Voorspuy, a British military veteran who was shot dead while horse riding and inspecting the remains of one of his ranches. Prosecutors declined to press charges, citing lack of evidence.
Kenya’s political leaders and farming authorities have denounced the violence and the attack on Gallmann, one of the area’s most prominent ranch owners. The family owns the 40 469-hectare Laikipia Nature Conservancy and employs 250 Kenyans.
“For months these criminals have been rampaging around with their illegal weapons, destroying lives and livelihoods,” said Martin Evans, chairman of the farmers’ association, calling it a “vicious assault against an elderly and defenceless woman”.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta decried the shooting, warning politicians in the area not to inflame tension through “reckless rhetoric”.
“Politicians encouraging invasions of privately-owned property or attacks on individuals can expect strong deterrent action in terms of the law,” he said.
Raila Odinga, opposition leader and former prime minister, wrote that his party, the National Super Alliance, detests and condemns “the hooliganism taking root in this part of the country and demands action that will restore order before things get completely out of control”.
More than 30 people have died in the conflict over grazing land, the Associated Press reported. Kenya’s military and police have been working for more than a month to drive the herders out of the private land they’ve invaded, but their efforts seem to have escalated the violence. When driven from one ranch, nomadic herders will simply move onto another ranch.
Laikipia, in the central highlands, is one of Kenya’s most popular areas for tourism, and many business owners are afraid that if the herders are not stopped, the violence could spread and the economy could take a hit.
Late last month, a luxury lodge owned by Gallmann was burned down by suspected cattle herders in an attack believed to have been retaliation for a police operation. Police had reportedly shot dead about 100 cattle in her surrounding conservancy. Since then, a number of other lodge facilities and farm buildings on her property have been “systematically destroyed and looted by the invading militias”, said the association.
Following the arson of the Mukutan Retreat lodge, Gallmann posted a poem on her Facebook earlier this month, writing that “with a bleeding heart” she was trying to gain the strength to see what was left of the lodge, “the monument of my love and loss and longing”.
As the armed men set fire to the lodge, they repeatedly shot at her daughter, Sveva Gallmann, who lived nearby.
“Our operations buildings and our house came under direct gunfire from armed men,” she said. “My 9-monthold daughter was in the house with her carers and I was shot at three times as I ran between the buildings to get to her.”
Speaking to The New York Times this month, Gallmann said that in the past few days herders had been nearing closer and closer to her home, and were attacking her property in revenge for the recent military activity against them.
And this is not the first time raiders have tried to kill Gallmann. In 2009, she was driving alone across her property when herders surrounded her and hurled stones, hitting her in the head and hand, The New York Times noted. She barely escaped.
Despite the dangers, Gallmann told the newspaper: “There is no question that I want to stay in this place, die in this place, which could be any minute.”
Gallmann has called Kenya her home since she moved there in 1972, divorced and recovering from a crippling car accident. She found a fresh start in Kenya with her second husband Paolo, an adventure-loving Italian aristocrat. In 1980, when Paolo was driving home a cradle for his yet-to-be-born daughter, he was hit head-on by a truck and killed instantly. Three years later, Gallmann’s son by her first marriage, Emanuele, was killed by a bite from a poisonous puff adder.
When her book was first published, some claimed the white European’s story of love and loss in Africa gave off an air of colonialism. But others have praised Gallmann as a viable force in the field of conservatism. The Kenyan citizen has waged a war against rampant poaching, in an attempt to protect lions, leopards, elephants and other endangered wildlife in Laikipia. She has funded scholarships to help Kenyans use pharmaceutical technology and tribal medicine to halt deforestation and fight disease.
“Landowners? …I do not feel like a landowner,” she wrote in I Dreamed of Africa. “I cannot believe that we really own the land. It was there before us, and it will be there after we pass. I believe we can only take care of it, as well as possible, as trustees, for our lifetime. I was not even born here. It is for me a great privilege to be responsible for a chunk of Africa.”
In memory of her husband and son, she created the Gallmann Memorial Foundation, which promotes “co-existence” between humans and nature. “On the grave of both, I swore to dedicate my life and my resources to making a difference for the chunk of Africa where we live, which they loved,” she said. Both Paolo and Emanuele are buried on her ranch.
“There is nothing that people can do to scare or to make me lost heart.” – The Washington Post I Dreamed of Africa,