Nina Dobrev Describes How A Lion Attacked Her Group While On Safari In Africa

After spending Christmas in her native Bulgaria, Nina Dobrev decided to head to Africa where the climate is warmer at this time of year. While fans have been enjoying the snaps of Nina as she visited Africa, the former Vampire Diaries star revealed there was a darker side to her vacation. While on safari, Dobrev revealed that a lion charged her group.

According to an interview Dobrev did with Tanika Ray from Extra at Universal Studios Hollywood, the star recalls her time in Africa — including the lion attack.

“I’ve always wanted to go to South Africa. It was fun, and the safari part of it was the best part… There were elephants drinking out of our pool, we saw leopards, and at one point a lion actually charged at us!”

In what must have been a terrifying experience, Dobrev elaborated further about the lion attack during her interview.

“The lion opened its mouth and tried to attack us, and our guide was like a real-life Indiana Jones and roared back at him and scared the lion off,” Dobrev said.

She also described it as “the closest I’ve been to death so far in my life, and I’ve done some crazy s***.”

In fact, a recent image from Africa posted to her Instagram account hints at some of that crazy stuff she has done.

“So grateful to all these amazing humans for traveling all the way to South Africa to celebrate me surviving my roaring 20s (which is a damn miracle),” one of Nina’s Instagram posts reads.

“The decade ahead is already off to an epic start. Although let’s be real, I may have just turned 30 but my liver turned 40, maybe even 45 after this trip… #LionsAndLeopardsAndGiraffesOHMY #NinasDirtySafariThirty.”

While the lion attack may have been terrifying for the young actress, there are still plenty of images of Nina with lions on her Instagram account. One image shows Nina reaching out with one hand and placing it so it looks like she is cradling a lion in her hand. Another video shows her next to a lion but behind a wire fence. The lion roars and Nina jumps.

“I think that means he likes me,” Nina captions the Instagram video.

“Pretty sure that translates in English to ‘Happy Birthday, Nina.'”

Since returning from her African holiday, Dobrev has been spotted in clothing reminiscent of Africa.

“It’s Africa-inspired,” Nina explained to Extra when they asked her about the jumpsuit she was wearing.

“I was just in Africa a few days ago and mentally I’m still there even though physically I’m home.”