Touched by the lioness trying to save her cub

For those who remember Mufasa’s de.ath in The Lion King, these youngsters manage to avoid the same fate – with help from their mother.

After seeing the herd, Jicho leaps across the stream onto the safety of an island but neither of her cubs had enough strength to climb out of the water.

Help us, mum! Heart-warming pictures show Jicho the lioness helping her two cubs across a stream to escape a buffalo sta.mpede

Helping hand: The youngsters managed to avoid the same fate as Mufasa from The Lion King, who was k.i.lled by a herd of wildebeest

After seeing the herd, Jicho leaps across the stream onto the safety of an island but neither of her cubs had enough strength to climb out

Don’t leave me behind! Jicho reaches down her to help cub who struggles to climb up the slippery mud bank in the Masai Mara region of Kenya

Safe and sound! The cubs get a cuddle – and a much-needed clean – from mum after making it across the river

At one point, their situation looked bleak, with the two cubs struggling to gain any foothold on the embankment as the buffalo herd fast approached.

Jicho had to growl encouragement to her crying young and eventually, after she leaned down to help them up, the cubs made their way to safety.

The escape was brilliantly captured by photography couple Laurent Renaud and Dominique Haution in the Masai Mara region in Kenya.

In the hit film The Lion King, Mufasa d.i.es while saving his son Simba from a sta.mpede of wildebeest.

After rescuing Simba from a branch, Mufasa is i.nj.ured by one of the wildebeest but manages to reach a ledge to get his son to safety.

Mufasa is then carried off by the herd but jumps up onto another ledge, where is met by Scar who throws him to his de.ath into the sta.mpede.

The escape was brilliantly captured by photography couple Laurent Renaud and Dominique Haution in the Masai Mara region in Kenya

Tentative steps: The first cub enters the water to make its way across the stream to an island where its mother had gone

Roars for thought: The second cub growls in frustration after struggling to muster the courage to cross the stream to its mother on the side

Neither of the cubs had enough strength to climb out of the water once they had swum across the muddy stream.