Coalitions of Kruger National Park

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The Mpondo male lions - One coalition, three bloodlines


It says that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. She can be hidden or obvious. She can be inconspicuous or overwhelming, crystal clear or impalpable. She can be shy and only emerge after a certain amount of time or leap out right at you. She’s a perception that assumes all kinds of shapes and remains unique to each and everyone.
For wildlife lovers the Kruger famous Mpondo male lions surely unite many of her characteristics. She’s overwhelming and crystal clear with their huge dark manes and healthy strong bodies, yet there’s another beauty, impalpable and secretly hidden behind a pretty much unknown background. So in order to reveal her there is one question to be asked that this report will focus on: Who are the five Mpondo male lions that developed into one of the Kruger’s most successful lion coalitions?
While usually male lion coalitions are made up of related males such as brothers and cousins who form close bonds to start their journey into independence together, the Mpondo male lions didn’t really stick to that general rule. Instead their coalition basically breaks the habit and has its origins at the Jock Concession, the Lukimbi Lodge and the Crocodile Bridge: 5 males from 3 different prides from 3 different areas.
While the sick blonde maned male and his black maned amber eyed brother came from the Lukimbi pride and with the other set of brothers - consisting of the short-tailed Mpondo „boss“ and his brother - originating from the Jock pride, it was the single 5th male who finally brought them all together at Mjejane Game Reserve in 2013/14. Having left his natal pride, the Vurhami pride behind, and being the oldest of the 5 males he lived up to his responsibilities and became their initial leader. It was under his watch that the males settled their issues (not without a few fights) and finally brought a difficult bonding time to a satisfying end.
Guide Dave Pusey who was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with them in their younger days on Mjejane about the exciting observations: „The Vurhami male reminded me of my time in Sabi Sands when Makhulu Mapogo initially led the Mapogos and kept the bond of the younger Mapogos strong.“
The coalition of 5 Mjejane males was born. This name soon changed again when they left Mjejane behind and departed towards the Mpondo Dam on the S102 in 2015/16 where they finally established their first territory and took over the Mpondo pride. The fame grew day by day and as a result it didn’t take long till the whole Kruger National Park would finally get to know them as the 5 Mpondo male lions.
One year later in 2017 they began to expand their territory further north along the S21, Renosterkoppies till up to the S114 which resulted in the successful takeover of the big Renosterkoppies pride. This union led to a further thriving of the pride, along with more litters of cubs there are currently four young males (one older and three slightly younger brothers) in the process of completely breaking up with the pride.
Just like it already had been witnessed with the Mantimahle male lions, one male - in this case the oldest Mpondo male #5 - permanently stayed with the Renosterkoppies pride while the other four regularly moved between their two prides and the boundaries of their territory. After roughly two years of stable circumstances 2019 brought along another change as the five males decided to push further north-west. At the cost of loosing the eastern part of their territory around the Mpondo Dam to the four S26 males, they ousted the Thompson males from the Jock concession and took over the whole region till down to Afsaal. With such a huge territory to cover its very likely that there are more prides under their leadership that are yet to identify.
What had started as a partnership of convenience between a bunch of unrelated males at a time of pure need, eventually developed into a strong brotherhood that conquered the Kruger almost at will. With the 5th male approaching the autumn of his life with now approximately over 10 years of age, and the blonde male #4 still struggling with some obvious disease, it’s not only thanks to the other three males - visibly in their prime years - that the group hasn’t lost a single member till today, but instead the close affection and size in total of the coalition that provided and still provides decent protection for each of the five members.
Five foreign males that originated from completely different areas of the Kruger National Park who came together and ended up forming a close bond; It’s tales like this that turn the hidden beauty of nature into something obvious: the pure unpredictability of wildlife and it‘s ability to find ways to survive.
We would like to thank Big On Wild - Wildlife Blog & Photography for a wonderful collaboration in exploring the background of the Mpondo male lions in detail and we highly recommend to check out their blog where they examine the histories of certain male lion coalitions of the Kruger National Park.

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