'The Vampire Diaries' star nearly killed by lion in Africa

Actor Nina Dobrev was on safari when the incident happened

The Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev almost became a lion's meal during a recent trip to South Africa. The Canadian actor - who played Elena Gilbert on the popular teen drama - was thrilled to see big cats in the wild safari but getting up close to one of them gave she and her friends a bit of a scare.

"I've always wanted to go to South Africa. It was fun and the safari  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!" Dobrev revealed.



But the lion was no match for her tour guide, who came to her rescue. "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. He scared the lion off and that is the closest I've been to death so far in my life. And that's really saying something because I have done some crazy stuff," she added.

Dobrev returned from South Africa to celebrate her 30th birthday on January 9 with a wild festival-themed party thrown for her by her xXx: Return of Xander Cage co-star Vin Diesel.

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