• Sámuel Teleki •
For the Chancellor of Transylvania 1739 -1822, see Sámuel Teleki.
He was a
Hungarian
explorer who
led the first
expedition to
Northern
Kenya.
He was the
first
European
to see, and
name,
Lake
Rudolf
• Early life •
• Teleki was born November 1, 1845 in
Sáromberke. He was a member of a prominent
Hungarian family active in both politics and
culture. Another Sámuel Teleki a chancellor of
Transylvania, had founded the Teleki library in
Marosvásárhely, one of the first Hungarian
public libraries, and it holds today more than
200,000 priceless volumes.
• For some 40 years, Sámuel Teleki started a
political career by becoming a member of the
Hungarian Upper House of Parliament. A keen
hunter, he was fascinated by the early African
explorers. In 1886, he accepted a suggestion by
his friend to turn the East African safari he
was planning into a journey of exploration of
the territories north of Lake Baringo. He was to
explore the lands beyond where Scottish explorer
Joseph Thomson had set foot, in order to find
the desert lake previous travellers had heard
rumours about.
• His first expedition •
• Teleki and his companion, Lieutenant Ludwigvon Höhnel, an Austrian naval
officer, left Tanzania in February 1887 with around 400 porters, following
the Ruvu river. They were the first to survey a great part of the East African
Rift Valley. Teleki was the first to reach the snow-line on Mount Kilimanjaro
at 5,300 m, and the first explorer to set foot on Mount Kenya, climbing up to
around 4,300 m. He later headed on northwards, to discover the last of the
Great Lakes. The lake was renamed Turkana.
• Teleki and Höhnel made many observations on the climate, flora and fauna of
the territories visited. One of the giant Lobelia plants found is named Lobelia
telekii, after Count Samuel Teleki. They also collected more than 400
ethnographical objects, They also brought home a valuable collection of plants
and animals.
• Teleki's volcano •
During the return to the East African coast, Teleki discovered an active
volcanoin South Kenya in1888. In 1895 Teleki was back in Kenya in
another unsuccessful effort to climb the Kilimanjaro.
• East African diaries •
• Teleki wrote "East African
diaries", in Hungarian,
1886-95 with English
translations. Von Höhnel
wrote a report of the
expedition entitled The
discovery of Lakes Rudolf
and Stefanie.
• After the expedition, Teleki
returned to his aristocratic
life in Hungary, dying in
Budapest after a long
illness. He die March 10,
1916.
Thanks for the attention
• Created by Gévai Bernadett •