Today’s post is a follow up on our most popular blogpost which is the story about the Skybed Coalition, we bring you an update on the Skybed Male lions.
We saw the Skybeds a total of 5 times on different occasions, but the one sighting stood out because it was the first time we saw the most magnificent male lion, in all the times we have been to Kruger we have never witnessed a lion look as big as this one did, he looked exactly as the lions you see on documentaries, before this we always thought lions in the Kruger looked some what smaller in stature compared to ones you see on TV.
Out of the 4 males he was with he was the most impressive, he had a massive mane, and a scar under his left eye and he was all around big compared to his brother,
We instantly fell in love with him and he become our favorite lion of Kruger, and in our eyes no lion could compare to him, even though males such as the Jock males and the Shishangeni males are remarkable lions to see.
Every time we visited the Kruger we made sure to stay at Tamboti so that we could drive up and down on the H7 every morning trying to spot him, unfortunately he would allude us and we weren’t able to see him, the last time he was seen by visitors was early last year.
At the end of April we saw a post on social media showing our beloved lion looking like he was in terrible shape, later on we read an article on Larry Pannell blogpost, which explained how the US photographer spent time with the lion before he took his last breath.
We believe he probably had an injury which didn’t heal and he could no longer keep up with his brothers and the pride because he was only 10 years old, and lions can live between 14-16 years in the wild.
Only 3 male lions were usually seen from the coalition, including the one with scar under his eye, therefore it is possible that the remaining 2 males can be seen, recently the Skybed pride was spotted on the H7, we last saw them in December.
This post is dedicated to our favorite lion, we hope to see another lion which will leave a mark as big as he did.
You can also read the update on the white lion.