Lion tales

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LAST YEARS OF CHARLESTON PRIDE AND THEIR STORY

PART 1: RAISE OF 2 CHARLESTON MALES

This part of the story goes back to a few years ago. Two of Lion Sands’ regularly seen prides, the Southern Pride and the Charleston Pride, came together on a buffalo carcass. In a terrible clash of dominance, the larger Southern Pride annihilated their opposition. They fought to the death, with the Southern Pride killing most members of the Charleston Pride. The only lions to survive were one lioness with two cubs and her adult sister.

Despite surviving the attack, the mother lioness unfortunately never recovered from her wounds and died shortly afterwards, leaving her two cubs motherless. The cubs, both males, were about 3 years old at the time – too young to fend for themselves. Those same cubs would eventually grow up to take on a huge territory at Lion Sands, but at the time, they were very vulnerable. Without the protection of a mother, they would most likely have died.

In the end, the surviving lioness, the Charleston female, adopted her sister’s cubs, later referred to as the infamous Charleston males, and raised them as her own.  For two years they remained a pride, and did well for themselves despite their small numbers and vulnerability. During that time, the Charleston males became expert hunters and were proving to be a mighty force. Around the age of five, coming into their prime, they began uniting with females of the Southern Pride to mate. As their rendezvous with the Southern Pride increased, the Charleston female moved off on her own.  It just wasn’t safe for her to be too close to these unrelated lionesses whose strength in numbers could easily spell death for her.

The Charleston female was now on her own. She kept a low profile in a small territory along the Sabie River to keep from being killed by other predators. Eventually she got pregnant and gave birth to two male cubs – the young Charleston males.

2 last Charleston lionesses:

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Last Charleston lioness:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Young Mazino and Big Boy:

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PART 2: 2 LAST CHARLESTON SUB- ADULTS AND HILDAS ROCK YOUNG MALE 

The story begins with a lone lioness, called the Charleston female. She has a rich history of her own (which we will write about in a future post). For now, all you need to know is that she was a lone lioness whose pride was killed by other lions, and was raising her two cubs called the young Charleston males (not to be confused with the Charleston lions) on her own.

During the time when the young Charleston males were growing, a neighbouring pride called the Hilda’s Rock Pride was attacked by the Southern Pride over a territory dispute, leaving only one lioness and one cub alive. The two managed to survive on their own until one day the mother was killed, leaving the Hilda’s Rock male an orphan without any pride or protection. During this time, the Hilda’s Rock male was understandably highly stressed, and was seen skittish and frantically running around looking for his mother. It was a terribly anxious time for him and this caused his mane to fall out, which to this day – a year later – hasn’t grown back.

This is where the stories of the Charleston and Hilda’s Rock lions connect. After two months of fending for himself, the Hilda’s Rock male approached the lone Charleston female with her two cubs. Very nervous around a male lion who could potentially kill her cubs, she fiercely guarded them and would not let this new male approach.

For a few months, the young Hilda’s Rock male trailed the Charleston group. Slowly over time, the female permitted him to get closer and closer and she eventually came to realise that the Hilda’s Rock male was not a threat to her family. Unbelievably, she went on to adopt him, a completely unrelated young male, despite an extra cost associated with protecting and feeding another cub with little added benefit to her family. It’s not clear why she adopted him. Perhaps she knew this cub was in need and felt compelled by a very strong maternal instinct.

For close to a year, they stayed together as a unit until tragically the Charleston female died. No one is certain how, but it was a tremendous loss of a beloved female. Without their matriarch, the 3 surviving males traveled together as a coalition. The young Charleston males were only about 2 years old at the time, and still too young to survive on their own. Even with the protection of a slightly older male, it would be an uphill battle to survive in a place where competition is fierce and predator density is high.

After several months, the Hilda’s Rock male separated from the young Charleston males and formed his own coalition with an unknown male from the Kruger National Park. Following the split, the two young Charleston males were frequently seen around Lion Sands together.

Despite the odds, the two males were surviving and thriving. If they could keep it up, perhaps in two or three years they could take over a territory here. But very sadly, one of the brothers was killed. He died in the most unjust and unbefitting way for such a survivor – at the hand of man. He was caught in a snare last month and despite our efforts to assist, he succumbed to his injuries.

The Lion Sands Field Guiding team, who know of the immense struggle of these young brothers who have overcome so much, did not take the news easily. But as is often the case with a lion’s story, something surprising was to happen next. The day after his brother died, the remaining young Charleston male was seen together with the coalition of his adopted brother, the Hilda’s Rock male. The two hadn’t been seen together in 4 months since they originally separated, but immediately came together when the remaining young Charleston male needed the protection of other lions.

Unfortunately this young sub-adult couldn't keep up with 2 grown up males, he went missing and prob died. 

Mazino and Big Boy in a visit of their aunt and 2 young boys :

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Hildas Rock male with remaining Charleston Pride:

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The last born lions of their once mighty Charleston and Hildas Rock prides, prides who where unfortunately whiped out by Southern Pride:

*This image is copyright of its original author

This is another unbelievable story of fighting for survivial against all odds and shows us how remarkable lions are. 

After the last Charleston sub-adult dissapeared, Hildas Rock male continued to be with his coalition partner who seemed to be legendary lion Solo, unfortunately Solo dissapeared shortly after, prob died from old age, after that he partnered with another unknown male named Shy Boy.

He was with Shy Boy to the mid 2019,when towards  the late 2019 he was seen with 3 new males in a new coalition. Now,in his prime, at almost 7 years old, this big boy is trying to establish himself as one of the legends of Sabi Sands and Kruger.

Hildas Rock Male behind his once coalition partner Shy boy in mid 2019 :

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Hildas Rock male:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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