Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Printable Version

Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Printable Version

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RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 11-30-2017

Shishangeni Male lions

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*This image is copyright of its original author

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-01-2017

Credits to Brian rode

The previous day had been extremely hot, but this morning it was cold and drizzling. We had seen very little, even the general game such as zebras and wildebeest seem to have disappeared. We stopped for our coffee break at Golf Course Clearing and were thinking of heading back towards the camp when Solomon came on the radio saying that he had found the Mountain Pride north of Gudzane Dam, feeding on a waterbuck. We decided to go and take a look at the lions before returning to camp to warm up and have breakfast. As we got close to the area Solomon called, saying that he had heard monkeys giving alarm calls to the south-west of where he had been watching the lions.

Upon investigating he found the female cheetah walking towards the dam. Nick and I, knowing that we could return to the lions, decided to rather respond to the cheetah. We found Solomon following the cheetah towards the edge of the dam and had magnificent views of her drinking water.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

When she had finished drinking she got up and started heading north. She disappeared through a guarri thicket and we lost sight of her. As I went around the eastern side of the thicket I spotted an old male buffalo wallowing in the water approximately 60 meters from where the cheetah had been drinking.

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By now Solomon had found the cheetah again and announced that she was eyeing out some impalas. I left the buffalo and headed west again, following the road around the thicket towards where Solomon was viewing the cheetah. As we turned the corner we saw a large male lion heading to the position where we had seen the cheetah drinking earlier. By now we were distracted by the lion and we followed him down to the waters edge, where we watched him drinking.

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The big, grumpy Shish male lion looking as regal as ever.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

While he was lapping the water, he noticed the buffalo lying in the dam to his east. The buffalo, which appeared to be slightly blind, heard the lion drinking and stood up to get a better look at the cat.

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The Dagha Boy took a few steps towards the lion to get a better view and we noticed that he was limping slightly. He was also quite thin. The lion stared at the buffalo and, seeing him limping, thought that this might be an easy target. He started moving towards the buffalo, but the buffalo was not going to go down without a fight. The buffalo then decided to charge at the lion. The lion got a big fright and made a hasty retreat, allowing the buffalo to get away. In the meantime, Solomon had told us on the radio that the cheetah had chased down and caught a baby impala.

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It was quite close to where the Mountain Pride were feeding on the waterbuck. The lions were feeding behind a large sickle-bush thicket and were unaware of the cheetah and its kill that were within 60 meters of where they were concentrating on their meal. While the cheetah was throttling the poor baby impala a Black-backed Jackal was circling the cat, hoping to get some scraps. The cheetah started feeding as soon as the baby impala was dead. We were busy watching the cheetah eating when we noticed the big male lion walking past the area. He looked towards the vehicles, but did not see the cheetah with her prey. The cheetah was, however, aware of the lion moving past. She sat up and watched him disappearing in a northerly direction. The cheetah grew visibly relaxed again, realising that the lion had not noticed her, and returned to her meal. We then noticed a vulture descending out of the sky. It landed nearby the cheetah and then another vulture arrived. By now the male lion had found the Mountain Pride on their kill and had obviously stolen the carcass from them. The lionesses had, however, noticed that the vultures were dropping nearby and because they knew that they had no chance of getting the waterbuck back from the bigger, stronger male one of the lionesses decided to investigate where the vultures were going. We were busy watching the cheetah when we saw the lionesses come running out off the thicket towards where the cheetah was. The lioness saw the Jackal that was still trotting around in the area and quickly gave chase, not noticing that the cheetah was lying in the grass feeding. The cheetah did, however, see the lioness and she quickly deserted the kill and ran away. The Jackal had managed to avoid the lioness and saw that the cheetah had run away from the impala carcass. It immediately ran in and grabbed hold of the carcass. What an opportunist! The jackal managed to get a few mouthfuls of meat before the lioness realised what was happening and ran towards it.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Jackal dropped the carcass and the lion immediately grabbed hold of it in her mouth and started walking back towards where she had originally come from. Since the cheetah had run away we decided to follow after the lioness. She carried the baby impala back to the Sickle-bush thicket and we watched as she allowed her young cub to feed upon it. We left them feeding and then headed back towards camp. After the dismal game-viewing in the first half of the morning we were now completely blown away with what we had witnessed….and all the sightings so close to one another! What an incredible morning!!

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Mabingilane - 12-03-2017

Are the shishengaan males and the shishangeni males two different coalitions? Can anyone give me some info on them plz? I know there is a very impressive coalition called the shish males who are huge and have very dark manes. Are these the same males who killed that one intruder earlier this year? See i get confused because i have heard both names but not sure if ppl have just given two different names to the one coalition? Or are there two actual shish coalitions... shishangeni and shishangaan

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Tshokwane - 12-03-2017

(12-03-2017, 01:24 AM)Mistry109 Wrote: Are the shishengaan males and the shishangeni males two different coalitions?

Hello Mistry.

Yes, they're two different coalitions. It confuses me too when they use the "Shish" thingy and don't clarify which coalition is.

I don't have a lot of specific data on them, but maybe some of the other lads here can help you with that.

Welcome to the forum, I hope you like it.

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-03-2017

(12-03-2017, 01:24 AM)Mistry109 Wrote: Are the shishengaan males and the shishangeni males two different coalitions?

They are 2 different coalitions:

•The 4 Shish males are usually seen in the area of Gudzani Dam, in the singita or on the S100.

•The 4 Shishangeni males dominate the H4-2, and the S28 towards the Crocodile bridge. South of kruger

Map of kNP

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○ Red circle The Shish Males
○ Blue circle The Shishangeni Males

(12-03-2017, 01:24 AM)Mistry109 Wrote: I know there is a very impressive coalition called the shish males who are huge and have very dark manes. Are these the same males who killed that one intruder earlier this year?

Yes same males, you can read about this battle here:
#348

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Ngala - 12-03-2017

@"Mistry109"

The males in the north are called "Shishangaan" males and now, they are 4 (5 males in origin); they are also called "Shish" males. They are the pride males of the Shishangaan pride and the Mountain pride.

In the south, there are two different coalition:

- The 4 "Shishangeni" males, are located in the north-east and they are the pride males of the Vurhami pride;
- The 2 "South Shishangeni" males, are located in the south-west, around S25.

See the good map added by @Fredymrt for see in detail were they are located.

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-05-2017

4ways male

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Photo taken 9 days ago. Credits eichmeister
Location - KNP Nov. 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcC2EzIDIjQ

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-06-2017

Awesome photos Credits to Thomas Seiderer

3 Male lions 15 km north of Lower Sabie Rest Camp

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Kruger N.P
Dec 4 2017

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - vinodkumarn - 12-13-2017

Saw this Pride of 11 with 3 Impressive Males in their company ..
Vurhami Bridge , Near Crocodile Bridge ...Kruger National Park , South-Africa
Credits: Dawn till Dusk Safaris

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-14-2017

2 Southern Males /Newcomers in the Nwanetsi Valley to the east of camp.

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Photos by Brian R.

Shish Male

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This lion has recently had a major punch-up with some lions to the west of the concession (we presume the N'wanetsi Males) and you can possibly see the teeth-wounds on his shoulder that are still weeping.

Grumpy Male

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A photo of one of the Shish Male lions. This one is often grumpy and growls at the vehicles. Image by Brian R.

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Pckts - 12-15-2017

A lot of these males from Kruger have great manes.

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-19-2017

S100 Male

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Photos by Walterwales.

Mluwati Male

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One of the Mluwati brothers on a fresh Giraffe kill on the S125 on Tuesday morning. Photo by andidill.

Skybed Scar Male

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Photo credit to Helgard de Villiers.

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-26-2017

From: Singita KRUGER NATIONAL PARK | NOVEMBER 2017

November was another amazing month.
Although we have had a little bit of rain the rivers have not yet started flowing and the remaining pools in the N’wanetsi River have been attracting quite a lot game to the central and southern areas of the concession.

Lions: Once again, the lion sightings have been phenomenal! The central grasslands of the Kruger National Park tend to attract quite a few zebras and wildebeest, which in turn attract lions. This part of the park is therefore well-known for lion sightings and many tourists come to the Satara area looking for these big cats. The Singita Kruger Park Concession lies to the east of Satara and we are in the fortunate position where we also have amazing lion sightings. In fact, one of the prides that we see in the concession, on occasion, is possibly one of the most famous prides in the Kruger Park. This pride is known as the Shishangaan Pride (often referred to as the Shish Pride).

Approximately 70 % of this pride’s territory lies outside of the concession, but fortunately we do see them fairly often. This pride is very large – at present there are between fifteen and nineteen members. The pride used to be larger, but a few years ago it got so large (approximately thirty members) that it split into two (or more) separate groups. The smaller portion moved out of the concession and seemed to have settled in the area nearby our staff quarters (which is a twenty-minute bus drive from the lodge). There are no roads in this area and as it is not part of our concession we do not venture there, other than driving the access road to the staff quarters. A few months back three lionesses were seen in that area and they had six small cubs with them. We believe that these lionesses are part of the break-away group from the old Shish mega-pride. The portion of the Shish Pride that we sometimes see in the concession is not only famous because of the numbers of individuals, but also due to the fact that it has a leucistic individual (a white lion) in it. This leucistic individual is a sub-adult male and is of the age where he will have to leave the pride soon and he will then have to go and search for a territory of his own. In fact, many of the subadults in the Shish Pride are males and they are all at the age where they will have to leave the area soon. Once they leave it may give one of the other prides, such as the Mountain Pride, to start growing in numbers and to become more dominant in the area.

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Photo by Brian rode

The Shish Pride have been pretty active in the concession this last month and we have had great sightings of them. On at least four occasions we have seen them feeding on buffalos. On two of these occasions the guides and guests were lucky enough to witness the whole stalk and kill.
On the afternoon of the 6th Chantelle, Nick and Henry plus their guests were watching the pride resting in the river. Nick describes the sighting as follows:
“The pride was resting up along the northern bank of the N’Wanetsi river just east of Dave’s crossing and to begin with it was a standard lion sighting. As impressive as it is to see 19 lions there wasn’t much sign of life! There were one or two who looked half-awake while the others were completely out for the count. It actually always amazes me how much they tolerate us. Even with three vehicles moving in and around the pride they didn’t bat an eyelid! We were actually describing exactly that - how our noise and movement is treated like white noise and completely ignored and can be compared to us being in a foreign country with everyone speaking a language we don’t understand. That foreign noise simply goes over our heads but if someone speaks our first language we listen to the conversation. It is the same for the lions - they completely ignore us but if they hear something relevant to them, like an impala alarming, elephant breaking a branch or something moving through the grass (their language) they react quickly and respond to it. Suddenly, a few lions rose to attention and started staring towards the southern side of the bank, all eyes and ears fixated on something moving through the brush. It took us a while to see what it was but eventually we could see a small bachelor herd of buffalos heading straight towards the pride! With all of us parked in and around the pride we actually couldn’t move as we did not want to affect the outcome of the hunt. Of all the hunts and stalks I’ve been lucky enough to see I’ve never seen them escalate as quickly as this did. I think the sheer number of lions boost their confidence, especially when it comes to hunting old arthritic buffalo bulls! The chase wasn’t a long one, and as we came up and over the rise half the pride was on top of and all over the bull, while the others were still chasing after another bull. The take-down was an impressive one as well, where even with the strength of the buffalo the big pride was just too much! From beginning to end it look less than ten minutes; the buffalo was down and entire pride was feeding. The next morning the entire carcass was finished and all the lions were once again resting in N’Wanetsi River, sleeping in a food coma”.

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Photo by Nick du plessis

On the afternoon of 15th the Shish Pride had split up into two groups, which were lying on either side of the river by Dumbana Pool. Henry was watching one group sleeping on the southern side of the river when he noticed that they all suddenly perked up and then started running towards the northern side. At the same time Wessel came on the radio saying that the other group of the Shish Pride were in the process of bringing down an adult female buffalo. Henry quickly crossed the river to the other side and Jani, who was also close by, quickly headed there to watch the action. The lions managed to pull down the unfortunate buffalo and then started feeding upon it, growling and fighting amongst each other to get a position at the “dinner-table”. At one point, one of the lionesses managed to get inside the buffalo carcass and, with a loud popping sound, pulled out a foetus. The lioness quickly ran away from the rest of the pride, that were squabbling over the meat of the adult buffalo, and managed to feed on the delicacy on her own, without the harassment from the other members of the pride who were still fighting to get a mouthful from the bigger carcass. Some of the guests were a little distressed by what they had witnessed (it was quite graphic), but most were completely enthralled by what they had just seen.

the Mountain Pride We have seen the Mountain Pride regularly in November. This is the only pride in our area whose territory falls entirely within the concession. At present the pride consists of three adult females and a cub of approximately one year of age. This pride is often seen with one of the large Shish Males. On the morning of the 23rd they were seen feeding on a waterbuck to the north of the dam.

The Xhirombe Pride were seen on a few occasions. This pride usually consists of three lions viz. an old lioness, a subadult male (of approximately 4 years of age) and a subadult female. The younger female has not been seen for a few months now. We initially assumed that she was pregnant and that she had left the pride to give birth to cubs but, due to the fact that we have not seen her for quite a while, we are not sure if she is still alive. The other two lions mainly utilise the area along the Mozambique border, high up in the hills to the east of camp, although on occasion they are seen near the N’wanetsi River close to the camp. The young male now has a full mane and is starting to look quite impressive.

The Shish males The four dominant male lions in the concession are known as the Shish Males. We have had regular sightings of these male lions this last month. They were seen on at least thirteen occasions.
On the morning of the 7th we had found a female cheetah on a large mound of sand at Sticky-thorn Quarry When one of the Shish Males (the male with one blind eye) came walking across the grasslands behind the cheetah. At first the cheetah did not notice the large male lion approaching and luckily for it the lion had not seen the cheetah either. We were all wondering what was going to happen next as the lion was getting closer and closer to the spotted cat. We were all hoping that the cheetah would realise that the lion was in the vicinity before it became too late and, luckily, she turned and spotted him early enough. She rapidly slunk into the grass and sneaked down the mound, quickly disappearing out of view. The lion walked straight past the area where the cheetah had, just seconds before, been resting without even noticing that the other cat had been there. One can say that the cheetah just “cheated” death, because if the lion had managed to surprise her he would easily have killed her.

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Photo by Nick du Plessis.

Towards the beginning of the month we found two of the Shish Males and one lioness near Pony Pan. One of the lions was sleeping while the other mated with the lioness. We are hoping that this coupling will result in new cubs for the Mountain Pride in a few months.

Shish Male lions

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Images by Collensibuyi. DEC 20, 2017

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - stronghold - 12-27-2017

Sorry guys, I just have to ask does anyone know what happened to the 2 remaining first generation mhangeni and one talamati male? Thanks

RE: Coalitions of Kruger National Park - Fredymrt - 12-29-2017

From: jock safari

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The Kruger National Park produces some formidable collisions of male lions but it appears that the Jock females have done it again...the new boys on the block...would be interesting to see where these 6 males will rule one day? Photo: ahouyphotography