Kuki Gallmann - I Dreamed Of Africa

Review by Linda Thomas Aug 2009.
This book was recommended to me by a friend and they loaned me their copy to read. I am afraid I have had the book a little while as I found it slow going and it was one of those books where I would look at how many pages I had read and groan as the ‘read’ pages pile didn’t seem to get much thicker!

Caught my attention when on page 95 they mention reading Wilbur Smith (the author of so many books based in Africa) as earlier in the book the description of hunting the wild game and following the ‘spoor’ had reminded me of his books.

The book is a memoir of Kuki Gallmann. She was born in Italy but had always been fascinated by Africa. In 1970 she went to Kenya and was captivated. She went back to live there in 1972 with her husband Paolo and her son Emanuele,from a previous marriage . Its about the life they live, the land they find to build their ranch upon, their friends and eventually the conservation work.

It gets more interesting later. First her husband dies in an accident, then 2/3 years later, while he is still in his teens, her son Emanuele dies, bitten by one of his beloved snakes. The death of her son was heart wrenching. The whole funeral process was so personal, unlike our custom, the friends & family of the deceased dig the graves and take it in turns filling the earth back in, they do not want strangers doing it. Kuki plants a tree on the grave so the roots may grow down and the deceased may live again through them (just as she did with her husbands grave lying next to her sons). A fire is lit every night at the graves to stop the elephants eating the trees.

The trees grow, side by side with Paolo’s protectively over Emanueles, watching over the Africa they loved. Kuki, is more determined to stay in Africa and look after the indigenous animals as much as possible, a kind of private, wildlife park on the ranch, to care for this country. She sets up the ‘Gallman Memorial Foundation’, which promotes and sponsors education of Kenyans, promotes research work for nature conservation and the use of local plants for medicinal purposes, the knowledge of which has been handed down over generations but is in danger of becoming extinct. She nurtures the tribeswomen to re-kindle their skills and set up and art & craft centre on her ranch for the to sell their wares.

Its sad when you read of the injuries to the elephants caused by the poachers, elephants with a bullet still lodged in their swollen trunk and or wire from the traps embedded in their swollen leg.
I was glad I finished the book but it was a struggle.