You never know what you’ll see when you’re out and about with nature. While on a safari in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, Sandy Gelderman recorded a dramatic and miraculous scene of a mother’s unconditional love for her baby calf. The video, posted on the Kicheche Camps YouTube channel, shows a herd of elephants attempting to cross the rain-flooded Ewaso Nyiro River—a feat that doesn’t look easy even for the adults, let alone an adorable six-month-old elephant calf.

With half the party having made it safely to the other side of the river bank, the video shows the calf begin to make his journey across after plopping into the water that almost fully submerges him. With mom close behind, the calf gets off to a speedy start making it nearly all the way across before the river’s current starts carrying him away from his family.

With the river deep, mountain-high banks are never easy for adults, let alone a six-month-old calf, so being washed away in the current was a very real possibility,” the video’s description explains.

The calf’s mom reacts quickly and efficiently, chasing after her baby and securely holding him in place with her protective trunk while the other herd members head over to help. The herd pull the baby off the banks of the river in just another example that familial and maternal love are very apparent in the animal kingdom.

Foram Mehta

Foram is a journalist by day and photographer/foodie/bookworm by night. She’s a die-hard Texan living and exploring the streets of the Big Apple just hoping to run into the likes of Kristen Wiig or Anderson Cooper. When she’s not enjoying scrumptious weekend brunches and weeknight dinner excursions to Curry Hill, you can find her rummaging flea markets and pushing around a little, red cart full of laundry or groceries.

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