Once upon a time in the impala family, the mother
the father and the baby, who were happily living among a herd.

 The young impalas can only move with great difficulty because of their long
thin and fragile legs. They represent easy preys for many predators
and especially near water pools !

On the contrary, the parents can run at some 80 or 90 kms/h
and can maintain that speed for hundreds of metres, which makes the work
rather difficult for the different predators such as cheetahs, leopards and other felines.

The parents hide their babies in bushes when they are at the water pools
the most dangerous areas - and have them back two or three hours later.

That time, zebra mummy saw the impalas hide their baby.

Clic to listen the zebras

She already loves the baby and so does he !

 See how she protects the child and how the latter curls up against ‘this mummy’.
She tenderly licks him and it is pretty moving for the photographer who follows these
true love scenes taking place under his eyes. !

When we heard the characteristic cry of the impala mother calling for her baby
it is the true cry of a mother suffering from the loss of her child and who cries
as loudly as she can for the sound to reach the far distance !

As a photographer, the cry of this mother made me think I could understand their language
The parents are getting closer, the child listens from time to time and it will take a few
hours for the family to gather in a concert of happy cries and of proofs of maternal love.

Then the impala family joins the rest of the herd, and move towards a shelter for the
night under the eye of the zebra mother who follows their leave until twilight makes
them disappear on the horizon line.

I will keep in mind this moving memory for the power, the intelligence
and love the parents showed in order to find their baby
as well as the sorrow of the zebra mother !