A wildlife photographer in Africa is melting hearts online after sharing a photo of the adorable photo assistant he brought along on a recent outdoor adventure.
Djamel Hadj Aissa is an independent photojournalist and passionate wildlife photographer based in Ghardaïa, Algeria. He has thousands of followers on his Instagram account, where he shares beautiful images he has shot of wild animals ranging from snakes to birds to primates.
In February, Djamel saw one of his posts go viral, but it wasn’t a photo of an animal in the wild. Instead, it was a photo of himself next to the unusual companion he brought on the shoot: a lion cub.
“As it was the first time for her, she sat on my chair and observed what I was doing,” Djamel told The Epoch Times. “My nephew Fayçal took the opportunity to take pictures and videos of us at this incredible moment. Seeing our position and us gazing together in the same direction, the public loved the photo.”
Chris said: ‘Mtombi is a rescued cheetah at the Marula Camp, Tshukudu Game Lodge in South Africa.
‘The loud sound of her purr is just amazing and I could feel her warm body against me, I could feel she was relaxed with me next to her.
‘However I am still very aware never trust a wild animal, I was ready for a sudden attack or something, but i could lie there for five minutes quite comfortably.
‘We found out later that Mtombi had caught wind to a nearby pride of wild lions – in the photo you can see her sensing their presence.’
After sharing the photo on social media, Djamel received comments from skeptical people who accused him of somehow “fabricating” the image. In response, the photographer followed up the post with a video of himself next to his furry friend.