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Skybed Coalition
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From Latest Sightings - Kruger:
07:40 11 Lions stationary H7, 1km E of the S39 Vis 3/5 Tinged by Chellavdb  *This image is copyright of its original author
Skybed Male Coalition – Lions of The Kruger
October 25, 2017 Posted by mica1993 Credits to Big on Wild Every week we will be featuring different lions and , we going to start with lions in the Kruger and our favorite coalition.  *This image is copyright of its original author "One early morning In May of 2015 while traveling down the H7 towards Satara, we spotted a lone male lion marking his territory, his mane was not well developed yet but we noticed that he had a marking on his leg with a letter C. At the time we didn’t know that he was part of the Skybed coalition.  *This image is copyright of its original author In December of 2016 we had a 10 day holiday at Kruger, we started our trip by staying at Lower Sabie and we then moved up north and stayed at Tamboti for our remaining nights. Our days involved of good sightings but they were mostly in Satara but on our last day while driving early morning on the H7 we came across 4 male lions with impressive manes laying in the road. This trip was our time seeing male lion coalition, on our previous trips we would see a pride consisting of one or two male lions and 4 or 5 lionesses and their cubs. So you can imagine how thrilled we were that we saw that many male lions together.  *This image is copyright of its original author We came back to Tamboti 2 weeks later to spend New Years in the Kruger and on one of the days we came across 2 buffalo carcass on opposite side of the road, we didn’t see any predators therefore we carried on with our morning drive, on our way back to camp we saw a whole lot of cars stopped on the one side of the road where one buffalo was, while we were at the sighting one of the male lion got up and decided to mark his territory and see if the other buffalo was still intact.  *This image is copyright of its original author When he started feeding on the carcass another male lion joined him, we could see a third male lion where the other two males came from apparently there were 4 in total but we only saw 3. We assumed that those were the same lions we saw 2 weeks ago because we saw them again in the same area we had seen them previously. We then headed back home an uploaded our photos on Facebook and shared them on different groups, we found out that the males we had seen are called the Skybed males. According to research that we have come across the Skybed males they were born in late 2007 – early 2008, they used to be a coalition of 9 males which were fathered by 3 of the old Skybed males and they came from the Phelwane pride in Nagala Game Reserve.  *This image is copyright of its original author *This image is copyright of its original authorThey get their name ‘skybed’ because they used to spend most of their time by the Skybed dam in Manyeleti. The male lions split up and made 2 different coalition, which consists of 5 male lions dominating the Tamboti territory and some of the Orpen area, while the other 4 dominate the Timbavati territory. The coalition of 5 can usually be seen by the Bobbejaankrans view point, we saw them on both occasion there. Every time we saw them we only saw 4 males, it’s believed the 5th male was the biggest in the coalition but he hasn’t been seen since 2015 and his whereabouts are unknown. The other 4 can usually be seen around the Timbavati picnic area, we haven’t been lucky enough to spot them as we found the area very bushy making it very difficult to spot animals. The Skybed lions which reside close to Bobbejaankrans are easy to identify because one of the male lions and the one we believe is the biggest lion we have ever seen has a scar under his left eye and his named scarface.  *This image is copyright of its original author The rest are easy to identify because they are branded with the letter C on their back leg, this is because they were inoculated by a vet due to a rabies scare. Next time you are in the area keep a look out for them and try spot the Skybed males." Resources & Information found on: http://www.wildfact.com Lions of Kruger National Park group on Facebook *All Images belong to Big on Wild unless stated otherwise 
Scarface is very impressive male lion! maybe one of the most impressive in Kruger area
I hear that the Skybeds have the same ancestor with Matimbas and Mantimahles, that's why some individu in that coalitions like Scarface (Skybed), Hair Belly (Matimba), and the biggest Mantimahle is different than any other male in Kruger, they different breeder!
One of the Skybed males.
Photo and information credits: African Wildlife Photography by Helgard de Villiers "The King"  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (10-31-2017, 07:58 PM)Ngala Wrote: One of the Skybed males.
Photos taken by Steynberg M.
Skybed Males  *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  *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
One of the Skybed males.
Photo and information credits: African Wildlife Photography by Helgard de Villiers "I photographed this warlord in the Kruger National Park"  *This image is copyright of its original author
From Latest Sightings - Kruger:
06:00 Lion on the move H7, about 10km from Orpen Tinged by Martina  *This image is copyright of its original author
Battle in the Bush
Credits to Kevin McDonald. Posted on Jan 1, 2012 "In June 2011, Loreen and I were in Kruger when we witnessed a fight among some lions in the central part of the park. The images I captured of this incident, were submitted to the TV show 50/50 for broadcast on their VeldFokus feature. They won me the honour of being runner up in the 2011 VeldFokus competition, quite exciting!"  *This image is copyright of its original author This obscure view through branches of a lone lioness on a buffalo kill was all we saw and we were about to leave when a lot of snarling and roaring emerged from the trees below us.  *This image is copyright of its original author Out of the trees right next to our car stormed a light coloured lioness chased by two other darker coloured lions, one of them a young male *This image is copyright of its original author The pursuit continued down the road.. *This image is copyright of its original author The drivers of this armoured vehicle were delighted by the sight of lions in the road but didn't wait around long. *This image is copyright of its original author Keeping ahead of her pusuers the first lioness kept walking *This image is copyright of its original author but then she turned around as if to confront them.. *This image is copyright of its original author What now? *This image is copyright of its original author As the lioness neared her rivals they turned on her. *This image is copyright of its original author She ran a short distance down the roadThen she stopped and challenged the other two .  *This image is copyright of its original author At this point I wished I understood better how to read the body language of lions. *This image is copyright of its original author Despite her threats, the other two lions advanced steadily. Eventually they were right on herThings got quite intense, mostly it just seemed like posturing.  *This image is copyright of its original author The pale lioness gave waythen ran away for a short distance.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author She then procceds to roar (as I didn't know lionesses could) *This image is copyright of its original author roaring... *This image is copyright of its original author The next thing we knew, this magnificent male came into view running around a bend in the road about 100m ahead of us. *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author He stopped running and let out a spine tingling roar, a most awesome sight and sound. *This image is copyright of its original author after roaring he began running again and i held the camera steady and clicked away. *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author all four feet off the ground. *This image is copyright of its original author the two dark lions, seeing what they were up against, bolted into the bush with this giant right behind them, sadly the last we saw of them.
SAD NEWS !!! "Last month on march 27th 2018 the skybed male known to many as "scarface" was found in a very bad condition at Rabelais waterhole on the S106 near orpen. He was " drinking water for the last time, as he lay down to rest after drinking a herd of ellies arrive at the water hole, seeing the lion lying there and charge him, he use his last adrenaline to escape them, but chooses a cool spot close by , lies down and dies a short while later". I was privileged to see him last year with one of his brothers a sighting that i will never forget. R.I.P "scarface" you are surely will be missed." Photos and info from the sighting by Greg Parker.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
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