Cliffhanger! A Breathtaking Display of Motherly Love by a Lioness

The unbelievable rescue at Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve was captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot.

Here's the story of one amazing lioness and her phenomenal love for her cub ...

A young male cub wandered off from the pride and became stranded above a ravine. Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help. His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male.

The drama begins: The mother arrives at the edge of the cliff as her son cries out for rescue after being trapped when he slipped.

The females in the pride start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop.
On the brink: Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission because of the sheer drop

A failed attempt by another lioness

Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster – motherly love.

Facing an almost vertical climb and the prospect of a huge drop, the lioness carefully made her way to the ledge where the cub was stuck. Slowly, agonizingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side. One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.
Rescue mission: The mother inches her way down the cliff face to rescue the terrified cub

Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws.
Rescue mission: The mother had to dive for him when he fell from the crumbling refuge.

She then begins the equally perilous journey back to the top.
The lioness eventually clawed her way back to the top with the cub in her jaws

Minutes later, they arrive at the top. She gives the frightened youngster an affectionate lick of the head.
Motherly love: The mother gives her son a lick to say that all is well in the pride following the drama

These dramatic frames were taken by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot at Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve in August 2011. (c) Jean-Francois Lagrot

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Cliffhanger! A Breathtaking Display of Motherly Love by a Lioness