A routine trip to a safari park in southern India turned into a scary ordeal for a group of visitors on October 8.

An adult lion suddenly appeared behind their jeep, chasing them for more than a kilometre through Vajpayee Zoological Park near Bellary, Karnataka.

The jeep driver sped away to escape the pursuing lion and slowed down when he thought he had outrun the animal.

But he had to quickly drive on again when the lion appeared again at a distance.

The visitors could be heard laughing nervously and asking the driver not to stop the vehicle.

A forest official observed that the lion was just being playful, commenting: “It didn’t want to hunt any human and was perhaps just bored.”