This is the moment the king of the jungle became the king of the tumble.

The big cat took a hilarious fall at the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya after getting his front paw stuck in a hole, and after doing a somersault he came to an unceremonious halt in a pile of mud.

The usually sure-footed animal had been prowling around waiting to pounce on a young antelope when he took a mighty misstep.

King of comedy: The lion looks less than amused after getting his foot stuck in a hole and falling in a pile of mud

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Head first: The lion loses its footing at the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, and falls on its head as its hind legs stay upright

Slip sliding away: The lion tumbled over on its side and does a forward roll after initially falling on its head

Slip and slide: The photographer who captured the fall said he had never seen an animal so big ‘fall like this before’

When the lion finally regained his composure his mane and tail was dripping with mud. And he looked none too pleased.

The comedy-cat was captured by French photographers Lauren Renaud and Dominique Hutton.

Ms Renaud said she the photo was a ‘total scoop’, saying: ‘I have never seen anything like this big fall like this before.’

She added: ‘It all happened so fast, and when we looked through our photos it was so shocked to see how funny it looked.’

Bum first: The lion appears to slide on its backside, as if on a slide and is expressionless as he waits to regain his balance

No photo: The photographer said the lion looked ‘so angry’ after getting covered in mud and appeared to growl at him for capturing it

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Sad face: The lion looks less than regal, as he takes a moment to regain his composure while drenched in mud

Ms Renaud said the lion ‘looked so angry’, at the muddy turn of events.

She said: ‘He had missed out on a meal and was left looking like a fool.