Stuck on a rock in a crocodile infested river, this Wildebeest must have feared for its life.
And, separated from the rest of the herd with a group of hippos closing in, the prospects for the animal did not seem appealing.
But in an amazing act of animal compassion one of the passing hippos paddles over and gives the wildebeest a quick leg-up to set it on its way.
Stuck: The stranded wildebeest looks like it could be the giant hippo’s next meal as the creature moves in
Free: Incredibly, the hippo lifts the drowning wildebeest free from the rock which it had been stuck on
The bull hippo takes pity on the struggling creature and fixes it enormous jaws around it and lifts it away from the rock.
The wildebeest was then released from the rock and tried to join the rest of its herd which had been crossing the Masai River during an annual crossing in Masai Mara, Kenya.
Unfortunately despite the hippo’s best attempts the wildebeest struggled to make it across the river and drowned with a broken back.
Swim: wildebeest make their spectacular annual crossing of the Masai River where one of their herd was helped by a hippo after getting stuck
Photographer Mitchell Krog, 39, said: ‘One of the more mature hippo bulls eventually came very close to the wildebeest and tried nudging him a few ᴛι̇ɱes to see if he could free the animal from the rocks.
‘The hippo sensed the wildebeest was injured and had no chance of survival. It’s not often an animal like a hippo shows a softer side.
‘This proved useless and eventually this same hippo grabbed the wildebeest on his back using his mouth and dragged it clear of the rocks and into a deeper section of river where he then released it into the river flow. ‘