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Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

Antoinette van Heerden

Author: Antoinette van Heerden

Published: 26 June 2014

Last Update: 30 January 2024

Mom to the rescue! 

Wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot captured dramatic scenes of a lioness saving her cub who had slipped and found itself trapped against a vertical cliff in Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve in 2011.

Sounds a bit like the Lion King doesn’t it?

Holding on for dear life, the lion cub cries out for help. His mother hears him and arrives at the edge of the cliff with three other lionesses and a male.

The lionesses try to save him, but are put off by the sheer drop of the cliff and turn back.

However, one deciding factor saves the lion cub’s life – the power of motherly love. See how the story unfolded below.

Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

The lioness arrives at the cliff’s edge after hearing her cub’s cry for help

Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

The lionesses attempt to climb down the cliff to reach the trapped lion cub, but are put off by its sheer drop

Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

One lioness –  the cub’s mother –  risks falling down the cliff herself as she climbs down to grab her terrified cub in the knick of time

Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

The lioness locks her cub safely in her jaws as they make their way back up the cliff

Lion cub falls off cliff, what happens next is amazing

The lioness consolingly licks her cub to show him that everything is fine

After avoiding a major scare, the lioness and her cub can safely return to the lion pride and hopefully avoid any more slip ups!


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