December 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 2
2 LIONESSES                                                           * 7 YEARS 4 MONTHS

There were only two sightings of the two lionesses of the Charleston Pride this month and both of these in the first half of the report-period.  Thereafter, the land usually worked by the lionesses was mostly occupied by the Windmill Pride.

November 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 2
2 LIONESSES                                                           * 7 YEARS 3 MONTHS

Location: CENTRAL & EASTERN TOULON

The two Charleston Pride lionesses appeared to have had a good November.  But, with drought conditions as they are, most lions should be doing well as animals weaken and have to concentrate near remaining water and food points.

Towards the middle of the game-report-period and over a period of at least a week, the Charleston Pride killed two adult male kudus in almost the same spot.  They were assisted in the eating of the second kudu by one (perhaps the sole surviving member) of the Ridge Rocks Males.

October 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 2
2 LIONESSES                                                           * 7 YEARS 2 MONTHS

Location: CENTRAL & N TOULON

There were only three sightings of the two Charleston Pride lionesses this month, all on Toulon.  One of the Ridge Rocks Male lions was accompanying the lionesses on one of these sightings.

September 2003

Location: SW CHARLESTON/ CENTRAL & NE TOULON

Up until the middle of September, there were regular sightings of the two Charleston Pride lionesses, often accompanied by one or two of the Ridge Rocks Males, as they patrolled up and down the lower parts of the Sand River in search of prey.  And they certainly seemed to have had a successful month securing enough food.  Amongst the last of the sightings of the Charleston Pride was of them eating a baby giraffe.

One wonders, however, what the future holds for these two plucky lionesses.  It has been assumed, probably correctly, that the rest of the pride is now no longer around and, with the Ridge Rocks Males in poor health, their state of emotional security cannot be high.

August 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 2
2 LIONESSES                                                           * 7 YEARS

Location: 7NW CHARLESTON/ NORTHERN & NE TOULON

It probably needs to be finally accepted that the rest of the Charleston Pride has gone and that only two lionesses remain.  Goodness knows exactly what could have happened.   The two lionesses, after confronting two of the Selati Pride females and the three Rollercoaster Males towards the beginning of the game-report period on what could have been a common territorial border for all lions involved, vanished for nearly 10 days before reappearing near the end of the Sand River at the very southeastern parts of the reserve.  And this is pretty much were they spent the rest of the month, wandering up and down the length of the river, hunting amongst the huge supply of animals which have been forced to drink from the dwindling supplies of water in this area.

July 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 7
1 ADULT FEMALE                                                  * 11 YEARS 2 MONTHS
3 LIONESSES                                                           * 6 YEARS 11 MONTHS
3 CUBS                                                                      * 25 MONTHS

Location: SOUTHERN CHARLESTON/ NORTHERN TOULON

The woes of the Charleston Pride continue - at least that's the message if sightings of the remnants of this pride are anything to go by.  There were only two confirmed sightings of lionesses of the Charleston Pride this month, one or two of them with one of the Ridge Rocks Males, the other of a single lioness when she approached an area where the Windmill Pride had just finished off the carcass of an adult male buffalo.  On this latter occasion, the lioness suffered not only the humiliation of encountering a neighbouring pride plundering what was once 'her prides' domain, but then had to flee when some hyaenas pursued her!

June 2003

Location: SOUTH - EASTERN TOULON

There were only two sightings of members of the Charleston Pride this month and both of these of only two lionesses in the general environs of the lower parts of the Sand River.

Where are the others and why have they been behaving in this manner?  Is the old lioness and her cubs still alive and are there any small cubs with any of the 3 younger lionesses?  Or is the lack of activity of the Charleston Pride in the southern parts of the reserve a consequence of the strong Windmill Pride forcing them out?  Hopefully sightings during July will provide some clues.

May 2003

Location: SOUTHERN CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ CENTRAL & EASTERN TOULON

The behaviour of the Charleston Pride lionesses continues to be puzzling.  Only three of them were seen again this month, these the three youngest, and there has still been no sign of the oldest female with her three almost two-year-olds.

Although some of the lionesses' behaviour points to young cubs being around (behaviour such as their regular presence around areas where in the recent past the prides' cubs have been concealed and the attentions of the Ridge Rocks Males) there is also much to suggest that there are no youngsters.

During the middle of May, the Charleston Pride, accompanied by first two and then only one of the Ridge Rocks Males, headed slightly westwards from their usual haunts and killed a giraffe near Kirkman's Kamp.  The lions spent three days in the area, but it was probably this which brought the Rollercoaster Males along to investigate.  The single Ridge Rocks Male departed before the Rollercoaster Males arrived, leaving the Charleston Pride lionesses with the carcass.  It is not known whether any interaction occurred or not, but it is generally thought that the three young Charleston Pride lionesses are sisters to the Rollercoaster Males and so have some sort of understanding with them.  However, a week later when some of the lionesses were next seen, one of them was sporting some nasty looking gashes on her back legs, these almost certainly from some interaction with other lions.  Could these have been the Rollercoaster Males?

Towards the end of the month, the trio of Charleston Pride lionesses split up somewhat, one of them again spending what seemed an inordinate amount of time in the thick reedbeds of the Sand River on northern Toulon.  Has she given birth?  The other two lionesses continued to hunt together, perhaps to some degree co-ordinating their hunts around this general reedbed area.

April 2003

Location: SOUTHERN CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ CENTRAL & EASTERN TOULON

Although there were good sightings of the Charleston Pride this month, they failed to answer a couple of important questions regarding the status of this family.

All sightings were of the three young lionesses; it has been many weeks now since the oldest lioness and her three nearly two-year-olds have been seen.  The hope is that these four have headed out on their own for just as long as it takes to get the youngsters educated in the ways of survival, this without putting the rest of the pride through a testing time, particularly so with some evidence that at least one of the young lionesses may have recently given birth.  But sightings of the trio of young lionesses during April failed to answer this question - are there indeed young cubs or not?

Although the three lions behaved in ways which indicated that they had cubs hidden in the reeds of the Sand River to the east of Kirkman's Kamp, there was no good evidence beyond the fact that they kept returning to this one spot.  One of the lionesses may have been lactating, but if she was, she did not appear to be producing much milk.  Also, when the lions were seen in this area, they were not seen entering the reeds or leaving them and there were no sounds from the reeds of cubs calling their mothers.  Certainly, the reedbeds in this particular area are extensive and noise from cubs may very well have been absorbed by all the foliage.  The lionesses may alos have been really secretive about moving to the exact position of their cubs whilst being observed.

The negative side to all of this may of course be that something bad has happened to the old lioness and her cubs.  And, even though the young lionesses may have had babies recently, as their fat bellies suggested a couple of months ago, these may now be dead. But hopefully the interpretation of the behaviour of the Charleston Pride over these past few months is accurate, at least partly, and within the not too distant future some stability will return to their lives and their hold over their territory.

The Ridge Rocks Males were seen several times with the three young lionesses of the Charleston Pride during April and particularly towards the end of the month when one of the lionesses was coming into season.  Several matings were observed between this lioness and what is assumed to be the most dominant of the Ridge Rocks Males.

March 2003

Location: CENTRAL NORTH & SOUTH TOULON

There was hardly any contact with the Charleston Pride this month and the only sightings were towards the end of the March game-viewing period.  During these few encounters, only the three young lionesses of the pride were seen and they were always accompanied by at least one of the Ridge Rocks Males.

It is still not certain whether any of these lionesses have recently given birth to cubs or not, but much of their behaviour suggests that at least one of them has and that these youngsters are, as at the end of March, being hidden in the thick reedbeds of the Sand River to the east of Kirkman's Kamp. It is also of course hoped that the nearly two-year-old cubs of the pride are with their mother, the oldest lionesses of the family, and that all four have deliberately kept away from the others.  Since the demands of newborn cubs and those of the older youngsters will be so different from one another, it would make sense to keep them apart. It could well be that the oldest lionesses is busy teaching her cubs how to hunt, preparing for their time of independence, and doing this without inconveniencing the other members of the family which at this stage will be very area-bound with the more helpless new-born cubs.

There have been no sightings of the oldest lioness and her three youngsters for many weeks now.

February 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 7
1 ADULT FEMALE * 10 YEARS
3 LIONESSES * 6 YEARS 6 MONTHS
3 CUBS * 20 MONTHS

Location: CENTRAL, NORTHERN & EASTERN TOULON

There were no sightings of the 3 nearly 2-year-old Charleston Pride cubs this month and only one of all four lionesses together. Indications, however, are that at least one, perhaps two, of the younger lionesses are lactating and that whatever cubs they have are hidden either in the reeds and rocks towards the lower parts of the Sand River, or in the series of gully systems southwest of this.

Although there were few sightings of any members of the Charleston Pride this month, they certainly attracted the attentions of the Ridge Rocks Males which would be the fathers of whatever cubs have been born; there were more sightings this month of lionesses of the Charleston Pride with the Ridge Rocks Males than without.

If new cubs are around, they would be very young and their requirements very different from those of the nearly 2-year-olds, so perhaps the separation of the oldest lioness and her three youngsters from the others is not too surprising. Should these three juveniles still be alive, then she could well have taken them away from the others in order to coach them in the art of survival. After all, at 20 months of age, they must surely be getting ready to participate in the hunting activities of the pride. This is probably a most frustrating phase for the mother and other adult lionesses; the young lions would be keen to help, but being naive, would more often than not spoil hunting opportunities, causing more hard work to get the required food.

January 2003

CHARLESTON PRIDE = 7

1 ADULT FEMALE * 9 YEARS 11 MONTHS
3 LIONESSES * 6 YEARS 5 MONTHS
3 CUBS * 19 MONTHS

Location: SOUTH-EASTERN TOULON (west of the Sand River)

The Charleston Pride continued to behave enigmatically over this game-report-period and was seen only five times, once with all seven members being together. At this particular sighting, which happened to be towards the very southern parts of the reserve, two of the younger lionesses appeared to be at an advanced stage of pregnancy. A week or so later, two of the younger lionesses were seen again, also towards the southern parts of Mala Mala, but behaving quite nervously. Had they perhaps given birth and were behaving with some caution as a result of this?

It is not known why the Charleston Pride is spending so much time in the southern parts of what must be their territory. Have they moved as a result of food requirements or have they been forced out due to pressure from the Windmill Pride which has been very active in areas previously used by the Charleston Pride?

MalaMala Game Reserve, PO Box 55514, Northlands, 2116, South Africa.
Telephone: + 27 11 442 2267 or 0861 SAFARI.
Facsimile: + 27 11 442 2318
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