Kuki Gallmann is an Italian writer and poet. Born in Treviso, near Venice, she moved to Kenya in 1972 with her husband and son. She wrote several books about her life in Africa, all of them in English; the best known is I Dreamed of Africa, which has become very famous worldwide. A movie adaptation of the book was made in 2000. She still lives in Kenya with her daughter, and manages several social, environmental and scientific projects. Her son and husband were both killed in Africa.
Gallmann was born in Venice, Italy in 1943. As a teenager she went with her father to Africa visiting the Sahara Desert. Then 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 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 tragedy struck when her husband was killed in an automobile accident while bringing a crib home for their unborn baby. Three years later her son Emanuele died of a snake bite while trying to extract viper venom for antiserum. Despite these tragedies Kuki founded the Gallmann Memorial Foundation in honor of Paolo and Emanuele and dedicated her life to saving the environment and wildlife of Kenya.
