Baby Elephant Rescued From Cliff With Helping Hand

This baby elephant struggled to follow the rest of its family when its legs proved too small to climb a steep hill. Kim Wolhuter filmed this elephant encounter on the Majale River in the Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana. The elephants had been walking along the riverbed before they started climbing out.

They were there, Kim said, because “even once the surface water has disappeared there is still water under the sand, which elephants will often dig to get to”. The banks of the river were very steep, being sheer cliffs in some places. Elephants are strong and surefooted, but poorly suited to climbing, so they had to find a gentler incline to make it out of the Majale River.