Import error: no module named _gdal_array

Make sure you have numpy installed before you attempt to install the GDAL Python bindings; without numpy, it appears the _gdal_array native code will not be installed.

If you ended up in this situation, removing gdal, installing numpy and then reinstalling gdal might help:

    pip uninstall gdal

    pip install numpy

    pip install GDAL==$(gdal-config --version) --global-option=build_ext --global-option="-I/usr/include/gdal"