April 23 (UPI) — Kuki Gallmann, famous conservationist and author of best-selling memoir I Dreamed of Africa, has been shot and wounded in Kenya.
The environmental activist was struck by the bullets of raiders in the hip and stomach on Sunday morning. She was airlifted to a Nairobi hospital for treatment.
Her family reported Gallmann to be conscious and speaking in the wake of the attack.
At the time of the attack, Gallmann was riding in a safari vehicle with Kenyan wildlife officials on her property, the Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
Thousands of pastoralists — herders in search of grazing lands — have flooded the Laikipia, Kenya’s central highlands, in recent months, pushing farmers from their land, seizing property and burning down houses, including a retreat owned by Gallmann.
Gallmann has been attacked by raiders several times before.
Gallmann was born in Italy but moved with her husband to Kenya in 1972. She has been involved in Kenyan conservation efforts for several decades. Laikipia, where Gallmann owns several thousand acres, is home to both iconic and rare species, including lions, black rhinos, zebras and elephants.
