View entry
Name: MACHULKA, Bedrich
Short Name: also known as Friedrich Machulka
Birth Date: 22 June 1875 Stepanov, Czechoslovakia
Death Date: 6 Mar 1954 Prague
Nationality: Czech
Last Date: 1936
Profession: Traveller, photographer, trader
Married: Josefa, a relative
Author: In Africa on the Trails of the Game, 1955
General Information:
Tom Lawrence: As an expert on African nature, organizer of hunting safaris and hunter, he spent much of his travels with his companion Richard Storch (1877-1927). Together they first went to Libya at the end of 1898. They were not experienced travellers but went abroad out of a desire for adventure and visiting unknown regions. Demonstrating their inexperience, they first chose a colonial country under Turkish administration in which the movement of foreigners was restricted. With the lack of permission to move freely, they opted to settle in Tripoli , where they obtained natural products and exotic goods from traders in long-distance caravans.
They then moved to Khartoum in Sudan where they remained between the years 1904 and 1905. They were the first Czechs set up a travel agency to organize hunting expeditions to Africa for the rich and affluent. Among others, they accompanied members of the Rothschild family and later, in 1929, Adolf Schwarzenberg and his wife Hilda. They organized hunting expeditions, route planning, transport connections and the hiring of porters. They also got the required permits for the shooting of game, for firearms and export permits.
In addition to collecting flora and fauna (principally small mammals and insects), Machulka also devoted himself to photography. After the death of Richard Storch, he moved his headquarters to Nairobi, Kenya, and specialized in East Africa. He also worked on the establishment of Schwarzenberg's African farm Mpala. From 1939 to 1950, he was employed as a caretaker in Schwarzenberg's small natural history museum and zoo at the Ohrada Castle, where he also lived. In the years 1945-1946 he was married to his relative Josefa. He bequeathed his entire photographic collection, especially the negatives on the glass plates, but also the celluloid, to the Náprstek Museum.