Shishangeni Males – Lions of Kruger

Today’s post is dedicated to the Shishangeni male lions,

In the December of 2015 we had the most numbers of lion sightings compared to our previous visits and that was because Kruger experienced a severe drought, therefore most of the waterholes and rivers’s were dry and the ones which had small amount of water was flooded with animals such as buffalos and hippos, and this made it easier for predators to hunt.

We saw the Shishangeni males for the first time in 2015 on the S28, there was 3 of them and they were marking their territory, actually every time we have seen them we have only seen 3 of them.

They are found in the southern section of the park and unlike other coalitions which are rarely seen, the Shishangeni males are frequently seen around the Crocodile Bridge area, they are usually seen on the H4-2 tar road.

The coalition consists of 4 male lions, and they get their name because they were born in the Shishangeni concession.

They were fathered by the old Gomondwane males and they are 7/8 years old. The old Gomondwane male which was blind in one eye was always seen with them when they were cubs.

They have  a territory on the S28 and the H4-2 in the Crocodile Bridge area and they are the pride males of the Vurhami pride.

One of the males from the coalition is easy to identify as he has a cut under both of his eyes.

There is also a lot of confusion with the name because people get these Shishangeni males confused with the Shishangaan males, the Shishangaan males can be found on the S100 and they are usually referred to as the Shisha males.

Down south there is also the South Shishangeni males which consists of 2 males who dominate the area around the S25.

It is believed that the Shishangeni males were the ones that chased the 3 male lions out of Kruger last year.

On our last game drive at Crocodile Bridge in March a ranger told us that there is a coalition of 10 sub adults male in this area which consists of Vurhami and Gomondwane ousted male lions, it will be interesting to see what will happen in the future.

We have other lions of Kruger threads which you can read here.