Life is extremely tough for a baby animal, and places like the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, make it even tougher as there’s a danger at every step. It doesn’t matter of you’re the prey or the predators, mother nature is always ruthless. Fortunately for those little ones, their overprotective mothers are like super-heroes, always around the corner to save them!
It is also the case of a tiny lion cub who found himself in a desperate situation. The tiny cub went to drink some water from a watering hole in Masai Mara, alongside his mother and one of his brother, but he couldn’t make it back on safe land due to the high grass and started to panic. Fortunately his mother, heard him desperately crying and rushed to the rescue. The dramatic moment was caught on camera by wildlife photographers Laurent Renaud and Dominique Haution.
The 62-year-old French photographers witnessed the entire moment, and they never thought the little one would make it. But the bold lioness immediately arrived at the scene and took her baby back to safety.
“We witnessed the rescue of a lion cub by his mother as the lioness and her two cubs went down a steep bank to drink water,” Renaud said. “The bank was quite deep and steep and after they had finished drinking, they had to climb back up, but one of the cubs went in the wrong direction.”
Though the cub’s chances to make it back were extremely low, his mother heard him and saved him just in time!
“The baby was about to fall in the water so he cried out in panic,” the wildlife photographer said. “He initially attempted to climb the cliff at first, but quickly realized that it was too difficult…but the female reached out to him, grabbed him up in her jaws and carried him all the way up. You always need a caring mum on your side!”
You can watch the dramatic moment here: