Top Roads for Spotting Lions in the Kruger UPDATED

We decided to do an updated version of this post since our last post is out-dated and it definitely needed an update because lions don’t tend to stay in the same place.

While everyone will have their opinion on their best roads for spotting lions we are sharing the roads we’ve had the best luck with over last 6 months.

Just remember that any sighting is down to luck and being at the right place at the right time, so these road do not guarantee a definite sighting but you most likely have a better chance of spotting lions if you drive them frequently.

Here are top roads:

H4-1

The H4-1 is a 47 kilometre tar road between Lower Sabie and Skukuza, with an abundance of herbivores and water, it is one of the best roads for spotting lions, its only downfall is the fact that it is one of the busiest roads in the whole of the park, so the best time to travel this road is during early morning and late afternoon as there is less congestion on the road compared to midday.

In the last year we have been lucky enough to see a couple of the Mantimhale males, the Nkhulu pride, the young kinky tail male, all relatively close to the H12 bridge.

The Lubyelubye pride is also often seen with their two pride males around the Lubyelubye rocks.

H1-3

The H1-3 is a 50 kilometre tar road between Tshokwane picnic spot and Satara, along the way this road offers two big dams known as Kumana and Mazithi, which are known to deliver great lion sightings.

Recently the famous white lion and his three brothers have been seen around the H1-3/S126 (close to Sweni waterhole), and we recently found a massive pride with more than 15 lions 1 kilometre north of Kumana Dam.

The two dominate males are often seen on this road around Mazithi Dam and the adjoining sand roads and they are known as the Mluwati males.

H3/H1-1

This 62 kilometer tar road from Malelane to Skukuza and adjoining sand roads has been a great road over the past year for lions, it seems to have a high density of male lion coalitions. We recently saw the four Young Jock males on the H3 before they crossed onto the S110 sand road,

The Eastern Bank males have also been seen in the south region of the H3 and the sand roads east of the H3, the Mpondo males have regularly been seen on the H3 as far south as Afsaal and Jock safari lodge.

The stretch on the H1-1 from the H3 to Skukuza also has 4 males known as the de Laporte coalition. We were lucky enough to spot them on several occasions on our recent trip in December/January, these males are often seen around the de Laporte waterhole.

S21

If you a frequent reader of our posts you know this is one of our favorite roads, SANParks has recently graded this road and it’s as smooth as a tar road and makes for another great road for lion spotting because it’s quiet compared to the tar.

The Mantimhale lions seemed to have moved onto this road as they where seen here in December 2019/ January 2020. One morning while traveling on this road we found three different lion prides not far from each other. This road always seems to have a surprise on it and we’ve been lucky enough to have great lion sightings on the S21.

H10

This road from Lower Sabie to Tshokwane is a 47 kilometer tar road, we really enjoy this road as it is one of the less traveled tar roads in the south of the park which makes sightings more enjoyable as it has less traffic.

In December we found the two Lubyelubye pride males on the H10 even though they are more frequently seen on the H4-1.

There  is also 6 young males which are found around the S29/H10 roads. The Muntshe pride can also been found on the H10 with their two pride males who are usually seen between the north entrance of the S128 and S122 we were lucky to spot them a couple of times on our recent trip.

Thank you so much for reading and try out these roads the next time you head to the Kruger.

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