Coalitions of Kruger National Park

[Potato]

Singita KNP update

The new year has brought with it new cubs to the Mananga Pride. We have yet to see all of them together for an accurate head count, but a few of our guides have been spoilt with brief glimpses of a mother carrying a cub from one den-site to the next. There has been more of a presence from the Mananga Pride this month with three females spending the majority of their time around the sticky thorns and in the drainage line below Green Apple Hill, as well different individuals seen around the Central Depression. All were seen with full bellies after feeding on a waterbuck bull near the end of the month.


The Shish Pride, now a total of seven females and 14 cubs, were seen at the beginning of the month near the Granophyres. A few days later they moved west and were seen on the H6 near the S41. It appears that they have temporarily moved into the grasslands just west of our concession, perhaps taking advantage of the plethora of general game in that vicinity.

The Trichardt males have mainly been seen on our concession boundary, along the H6 and S41. At the beginning of the month, one of the brothers was mating with a Mananga lioness, and then seen feeding on a wildebeest near Ostrich Link. Only towards the end of the month did we see the brothers reunited before heading west out of our concession. Hopefully, them spending so much time out of our concession means that they are keeping strange males away from the vulnerable new cubs in both the Mananga and Shish Prides.

The absence of the Trichardt males in the northern half of the concession has meant that the Maputo male and Xai-Xai have felt confident enough to push south, and have been seen multiple times this month. Maputo was mating with an unknown lioness near Xinkelegane Fly Camp in the beginning of January, and Xai-Xai was seen following another female who did not seem to appreciate the company, growling at him when he got too close. Reply