This is the thrilling moment British tourists saved a group of holidaymakers after their car broke down, surrounded by lions at a safari park.
Richard Sandiland was visiting Kruger National Park, South Africa, earlier this month when a group of fellow travelers urgently informed him that their car had broken down with a dead battery.
In the chilling clip, Richard, from Rowley Regis, West Midlands, can be seen using his car to block the hungry big cats as South African motorists use jump ropes on the stranded vehicle.
You can even hear one of the trapped travelers fearing that he might become one of the menacing lions’ ‘supper’.
Richard said the huge predators ‘could have been with us within seconds’ in a disturbing account of the incident.
Two groups of tourists worked together to get the stranded car moving again
Richard Sandiland was visiting South Africa’s Kroger National Park when he spotted the stranded vacationers
He said: ‘We were driving and saw a car coming off the dirt road. You’re not supposed to go off the road, so we were a bit surprised.
‘I immediately thought it could be a sighting and sure enough, there were two lions not far from the blue car, about 60 feet.
‘We took some pictures and then saw an arm out the car window calling us. He then told us that somehow his battery was dead and he couldn’t start it.
‘His window barely worked because the battery was dead and they were worried they might not be able to get them up if the lions came by.
‘The driver then said he had jumper cables, but my mother said no one would ever get out with the lions close by.
‘By this time one of them had woken up and was definitely watching us. Luckily we saw a bigger car five minutes down the road and flagged them down.
“I think that lion could have been with us in seconds, and they’re so big up close.
“Looking back, I think it was a stupid thing to do, but it could have easily gone the other way.
“But if we hadn’t driven past it, I’m not sure the other car would have taken the same route to pass the blue car, so who knows how long they could have been stuck there?”
Richard used his car to stop the lions while another motorist started the stranded vehicle
Richard explained his family’s reluctance to get out of the car after seeing the nearest lion had woken up.
Luckily there was a local nearby who took it upon himself to help.
Richard said: ‘He was South African… he said we should just block them with our cars.
“Anyway, he followed us back and he lost a little bit of confidence, but he did stop and to be honest, it was quite quick to hit the ground running.”
This comes just weeks after a woman was killed by a crazed bull elephant while on safari in Zambia.
An 80-year-old woman was killed in the attack while she was on a game drive in Kafue National Park with five other tourists in April.
The vehicle was attacked and rolled as the enraged five-ton animal, apparently separated from its herd, ran at full speed to overtake the vehicle believed to be traveling at 25mph – before the driver stopped abruptly.
Video shows one tourist saying ‘oh my goodness’ as the elephant keeps pace with the car, while another says ‘oh oh’ and a third adds ‘it’s coming soon’ in the last desperate moments before impact.
The ranger suddenly stops the vehicle before the elephant swings to the right and attacks the safari truck, prompting speculation from wide shots that they had veered out of the way.
The driver shouts loudly ‘hey hey hey hey hey’ when he realizes that it is not a mock attack and that the five-ton elephant, more than three meters high, is planning to carry out a deadly attack.