Skip to main content

Unwanted passenger

Tourists in a South African game reserve got something of a fright when a lion tried to hitchhike in their vehicle. The animal grabbed a door handle of the Toyota using its teeth and succeeded in opening a rear door. The driver, unwilling to share his vehicle with a 136kg lioness, hit the accelerator and sped away. The lion pursued until it reached the gates of the enclosure and was finally discouraged from making another attempt to open the door when a warden launched a volley of stones at the animal. Visi
February 22, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Tourists in a South African game reserve got something of a fright when a lion tried to hitchhike in their vehicle. The animal grabbed a door handle of the Toyota using its teeth and succeeded in opening a rear door. The driver, unwilling to share his vehicle with a 136kg lioness, hit the accelerator and sped away. The lion pursued until it reached the gates of the enclosure and was finally discouraged from making another attempt to open the door when a warden launched a volley of stones at the animal. Visitors are now being told to lock their doors on entering the park.

Related Content

  • Beach Swamped
    November 15, 2016
    The owner of an expensive Range Rover may have reason to regret trying to help another driver in the UK recently. The Range Rover owner spotted that the driver of a van had managed to get the vehicle stuck on a beach. Keen to help, the Range Rover owner drove his 4WD onto the beach and attempted to tow the van free.
  • EVENT: wildlife-vehicle collision reduction
    May 9, 2024
    A symposium this month in Sydney by the Australasian Network for Ecology and Transportation (ANET) and the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) will explore how new and emerging technologies are helping reduce the millions of mammal deaths annually – an estimated four million in Australia alone.
  • Wacker Neuson’s prototype DW50 dumper swings both ways
    April 19, 2016
    At the flick of a switch, drivers of the DW50 Dual View dumper can spin 180 degrees and get a perfect view of the dumping action. Wacker Neuson is still working on development of the DW50 but a prototype is in action at this year’s bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany. Although there is no date for eventually getting the dumper to market, visitors have been trying out the moveable seat and console unit.
  • Storage Facility
    May 22, 2018
    Many UK drivers use their vehicles to store highly unlikely items according to a study. Amongst the more peculiar items kept in cars by their owners are mannequins, a bale of hay, 52 pies, a Ouija board, a false leg, 160 hats, 24 rolling pins, a wicker reindeer, two single mattresses, a hamster cage, parts of a railway engine and a urine container. The study also found that 25% of drivers are ashamed of how dirty their vehicles are with a further 5% admitting to never cleaning their vehicles. The study was