December 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 10 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years 4 months

Location: SOUTH EASTERN CHARLESTON

The closure of Kirkmans Camp during this last game report period limited the concentration of game-drive vehicles in the areas usually patrolled by the Charleston Pride. Consequently there were no sightings of these lions this last month. It is still also believed that the pride of lions which has moved onto the south western portions of Mala Mala, together with three young close-to-adult males, has also caused the Charleston Pride to exercise caution and move somewhat away from the area. This too would limit contact with the Charleston Pride.

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November 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 9 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years 4 months

Location: SOUTH EASTERN CHARLESTON

There was but one sighting of three of the lionesses of the Charleston Pride this month. With the Windmill Pride operating on eastern Charleston and eastern Flockfield and another large family on south western Toulon, the Charleston Pride may well be spending more time to the south and east of the reserve, inside the Kruger National Park. The fact that three new male lions appear to have taken over some of the southern and western parts of the reserve may also be causing the lions of this pride to stay away, at least for the time being. These new males would not really take the presence of the young Charleston Males very well. This may initially cause the females of the pride to follow the males as they seek to avoid these bigger more confidant male lions. There were two sightings of the four males of the Charleston Pride together with another young male, probably one of the males of the River Rocks Pride. It is to be expeceted that these young males will spend less and less time with the lionesses.

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October 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 8 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years 3 months

Location: CENTRAL & WESTERN CHARLESTON/ NORTHERN TOULON

Sightings of the Charleston Pride were plentiful towards the beginning of October, but not thereafter - who knows where they could have gone. Most encounters this month were to the east of the Sand River. With the River Rocks Pride of lions effectively probably gone and another family already filling their space on south western Toulon, it can be hoped that the Charleston Pride will spend greater quantities of time on the more central parts of Mala Mala. Sightings this month all involved females together with young males; evidently the sub adult males of the Charleston Pride have had no real encouragement to leave and make it on their own. Dominant male lions are often needed to get these youngsters moving and, although there are some signs that adult males may be staking a claim in these southern parts of Mala Mala, nothing is definite. The five males of the Charleston Pride (effectively four from this family and one from the River Rocks Pride) were seen several times on their own and once sharing a buffalo kill with the three close-to-adult male lions which appear more and more dominant in the southern portions of the reserve.

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September 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 7 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years 2 months

Location: CENTRAL AND NORTHERN TOULON/ SOUTH CENTRAL CHARLESTON

Sightings during September again had only a maximum of three of the four lionesses of the Charleston Pride together at any one time. However, other encounters hinted that the missing fourth member is still hanging out with her brothers which are spending less and less time with the other lionesses, this probably a feature more of the lionesses avoiding the males than the males actively moving from the females. The news that all four lionesses of the Charleston Pride are alive and well is good. For some months now it has been suspected that the single lioness found in June with a broken back (this almost certainly the result of a heavy blow from some large prey animals' hoof) may have been one of the lionesses of the Charleston Pride. The behaviour of one of the lionesses seemingly preferring the company of the males and the remaining females living independently parallels the behaviour of the Styx Pride over the last year. Movements of the Charleston Pride during September saw them spend more time on the eastern bank of the Sand River than has so far been the situation since the heavy floods earlier this year.

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August 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 6 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years 1 months

Location: TOULON (not seen on SE Toulon)

The status of the Charleston Pride is not certain. Evidence is pointing more and more towards there being only three females in the pride and perhaps the lioness killed a few months ago was indeed from this family. Two months ago a lioness was found dying, her back having been broken in some or other accident, probably whilst she was hunting some big and powerful animal. Although the young male lions of the Charleston Pride were encountered this month, they too are being seen less and less and soon it could be expected that they will finally wander off and start their life of independence. There is also lack of clarity as to what adult male lions dominate this southern area of the reserve where the Charleston Pride typically resides. Towards the end of this months game-report period, there was an interaction between three of the Charleston Pride lionesses and a single female which joined them whilst they were feeding on an adult male warthog which they had just killed. Although all lionesses were actively eating, the aggression towards this other lioness - which had been seen earlier in the day a long way from the three lionesses of the Charleston Pride - increased as the meat became scarce. The following day this female was again alone and several kilometres away from the scene of the kill. It was thought that this lioness could have been one of the two females of the River Rocks Pride. Initially it was thought that the lioness with the broken back was one of this pair, but, as mentioned earlier, this might not be the case. Some days prior to all of this taking place, there were two separate sightings of lions in the south western areas of Mala Mala, one of three lionesses (accompanied by a young male and this group identified as members of the Charleston Pride) and the other of two lionesses, one older than the other which was estimated at approximately four years of age - this composition and the area in which they were found could well indicate that these latter two lionesses would be from the River Rocks Pride. Hopefully sightings during September will produce greater clarity on the situation of these two long-standing lion prides of Mala Mala.

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July 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 5 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 4 years

Location: CENTRAL TOULON

There were two sightings this month of all members of the Charleston Pride. This has not happened for some time, the suspicion being that new dominant male lions in the area have encouraged the younger Charleston Pride males to move away. However, other sightings during July still showed that the young males and females of the Pride seem to work well together and no definite cliques are developing with females on one side and the males on the other. Soon, however, this is almost certain to occur and the young males will move off to start a truly nomadic life, leaving the lionesses to start on the next generation of lions for this family. At the one sighting of these some of the Charleston Pride during July, they were found on a freshly killed impala. Sounds of the Struggle soon attracted a large group of hyaenas and their giggles drew the attention of a female leopard. The lions managed to eat their entire kill.

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June 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 4 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 3 years 11 months

Location: WESTERN TOULON

There were no confirmed sightings with the Charleston Pride this month, probably mostly because the areas most often worked by these lions saw very little game-drive vehicle activity. The status of the lions in the southern parts of the reserve is unclear at this stage, but there is a strong possibility that the old Kingston Males have been chased off and the area taken over by a coalition of three younger males. There was one sighting on the southwestern areas of the reserve of 8 lions being chased off a giraffe carcass by another 6, the latter which included three close-to-adult males. The three females with the males at the time may well have been members of the Charleston Pride. Towards the middle of June a dying lioness was found in this same area, her back completely broken. The lack of scars indicated that the injury was the result of some large prey animal lashing out against the lioness, something which lions face every day as they chase for their food. The identity of this lioness was never established, but it could well have been one of the Charleston Pride.

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May 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 3 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 3 years 10 months

Location: WESTERN TOULON

There were few encounters with the lions of the Charleston Pride this month, probably mainly because of the minimal vehicle activity in the area usually patrolled by them. Towards the middle of May most of them were found on the carcass of an adult female giraffe. It has been suspected that three young close-to-adult male lions are taking over the area from the old Kingston Males and it is these three that may have been keeping the young males of the Charleston Pride somewhat wary and out of harms way. It has also been suggested that since the sisters of these young males are still with them, they would move away when the young males do. What was certainly evident at the giraffe carcass was the fact that the males and females of the pride were still close to one another and little undue aggression was seen when they were feeding. It may be some months before the situation in the south of the reserve stabilises and new male lions set about their territorial rule with compliant females.

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February/ March/ April 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 7 years 2 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 3 years 9 months

Location: SW CHARLESTON/ TOULON

Little has been seen of the Charleston Pride over the last few months. Some of this could certainly be blamed upon the wet conditions and the driving restrictions so imposed. However, it may also be that the two Kingston Males have been driven from the area by three younger males and this has at least temporarily caused the Charleston Pride to lie low, particularly since the younger males would most certainly be discouraged from hanging around. Hopefully the situation will stabilise in the next few months and the four lionesses of the Charleston Pride will get down to the serious business of mating and raising a new litter.

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January 2000

1 ADULT FEMALE * 6 years 11 months
7 SUB ADULTS (4 males and 3 females) * 3 years 6 months

Location: SW CHARLESTON/ TOULON

The Charleston Pride was not encountered on the eastern bank of the Sand River this month. This was perhaps due to both the regularly high water level and also the presence of the large Windmill Pride in some of these areas. Throughout the month most encounters with the Charleston Pride were of all members together and with two other young males - perhaps their cousins from the River Rocks Pride - tagging along. This certainly does not seem to indicate that the young males are in any hurry leave. As a group, however, they still form a most effective hunting unit. This month they were seen on a freshly killed adult female buffalo and were also seen chasing and killing a zebra foal. The buffalo was killed apparently without the assistance of the adult lioness of the pride, which at the time was found alone some kilometres away. The effectiveness of the Charleston Pride in killing buffaloes has become obvious over the last half year or so and it may well be this which has resulted in what is known as 'the small herd' of buffalo spending so little time in these areas. As with the lionesses of the Styx Pride, expectations are for those of the Charleston Pride to start coming into oestrus - the young females for the first time. When this happens it may well be the boost needed to get the young males on their way to leave the lionesses to raise the next generation. The need to mate could of course result in a new coalition of male lions arriving in the area. The Kingston Males, the dominant pair of males in these southern regions, are the fathers of the younger members of the Charleston Pride and have remained relatively unchallenged for close to 4 years now - about the limit for any coalition to be expected to remain in control of a territory. Not only would a new dominant group of male lions ensure that the fathers of the young Charleston Pride females do not mate with their daughters, but would also have a better chance of staying around and in control for several years, enough to see any cubs through to maturity. Such a new coalition of male lions would of course look most unfavourably upon the younger males of the Charleston Pride and almost certainly speed them on their way.