Coalitions of Kruger National Park

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Introduction of S26 Lion Coalition

We bring you a new installment in our Lions of Kruger segment, this time we decided to focus on the S26 lion coalition.

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The S26 lions are a coalition of 4 males and they are named after the road that the males spend most of their time on, the coalition consists of 2 Styx males and two unidentified males, there are no certainty where the unidentified lions came from.

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The two Styx males come from the Styx pride in Sabi Sands and are fathered by the famous Majingilane males, the two lions first appeared in the Kruger National Park in 2016 and were spotted around Jock Safari lodge.

There have been sporadic sightings of them over the years in the Kruger, where they would pop up in different areas in the southern regions between Skukuza and Jock Safari lodge as the two Styx males were living a nomadic life.
One of the Styx males must have sustained a jaw injury at some point which was probably caused from a buffalo or even a giraffe kick.

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The Styx male with the injured jaw appeared on the S26 back in 2018, our first encounter of all four males was in August 2019 late afternoon, we were making our way to Mpondo Dam and traveling on the S26 and a few kilometres before the S102, we saw 3 lions standing in the road with the fourth appearing from the bushes.

The male that appeared from the bushes was the Styx male with the injured jaw, while all 4 males were impressive he definitely stood out with his beautiful mane and bulky size.

In September 2019 we returned to the park and were hoping to see them again, we again travelled down the S26 and found one of the males mating with a female a few kilometres east of the S102.

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In October 2019 we came across an interesting sighting and post from Laura Proudfoot.

“18th Sept – on the S102, 2 kms from Mpondo dam. First there were 3 lions on the road, then a few hundreds meters up the road there was a 4th lion on the road, we went to Mpondo dam and waited and they appeared a short while later.”
This was 3 of the Shishangeni males on the trail of 2 of the S26 males. Read our post on the Shishangeni males here.

Shishangeni males:

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Styx males

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Thankfully it didn’t appear that a confirmation took place between the two coalitions. The Shishangeni males have since been spending most of their time around the S25.


Towards the end of 2019 the S26 males were spotted with a pride on the S102 close to Mpondo dam, confirming that they occupy the territory once held by the Mpondo males, it’s more than likely that the Mpondo males abandoned this territory leaving room for the S26 coalition to take over.



Once again we returned to Kruger in December 2019 and we spent many days driving towards Mpondo dam and the S26 in hopes of finding the S26 lions again.


Eventually with a bit of luck we found one of the males walking on the Mpondo Dam wall and he was accompanied by the Styx male with the injured jaw.

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What was most surprising about this sighting was how impressive the male was looking, when we first saw all 4 males in August he appeared to be the smallest/youngest out of the coalition, but recently he has really developed nicely and his mane has been looking impressive.

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Here is a recent sighting of him on the S26 with a female showing just how impressive he is.

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Look out for these lions on your next trip.


Thank you so much for reading.


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