We saw the Mantimahle males for the first time in March of 2016 we were staying at Pretoriuskop and after a very unsuccessful morning we decided to head towards the S36 where we saw on Latest Sightings that the Mantimhale lions were spotted earlier that morning.
We visit Kruger often and every time we visit we make a wishlist of what we would like to see on that trip, we know it’s all about the element of surprise when you visit Kruger which we love but it’s also nice to see what you wished for, therefore on that trip the Mantimahle males were on our to-see list because we saw pictures of them all over Facebook and they were making a name for themselves already and after seeing a few coalitions we wanted to add more on our seen checklist.
It was early afternoon and I remember it being very hot, as it is in March, and we set to travel from Pretoriuskop to Skukuza that’s a total of 50km and it took us 2 hours to complete, luckily when we got to the sightings the Mantimahle males were up and ready to be photographed, there were only 4 out of the 5, we were at the sightings only for a couple minutes because we still had to head back to camp before the gates closed. The sighting was totally worth it because we have seen them together only this time and we later saw one of the males alone in June of 2016.
The Mantimahle males are very impressive lions, they consist of 5 male lione, they are huge male lions, they were born in 2010 which makes them 7 years old this year. They were fathered by the two old Mazithi males.
They previously dominated the area around Mantimahle Dam but from the beginning of this year they have been expanding their territory and they have been seen in Sabi Sands and Kirkmans kamp, so they come in and out of Kruger.
By the time they invaded Sabi Sands in May of 2017 they had killed a total of 35 lions, they are definitely a force to be reckoned with.
They have huge territory and usually only 3 or 4 out of the 5 are seen patrolling their territory because one or 2 of the males stay with the pride.
Recently though in the month of October/November they have been seen inside Kruger on the H1-2 and even up to the H12, they are also seen on S36 near Mantimahle Dam that is were they get their name from.
They also have their own Facebook page on which you can follow their most recent activity.