Johannesburg, Jan 20 (IANS): Actress Nina Dobrev almost became a lion's meal during her trip to South Africa.

"The Vampire Diaries" star was thrilled to see big cats in the wild safari but getting up close to one lion gave the actress and her friends a bit of a scare, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"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!" Dobrev told news show "Extra".

But the lion was no match for her 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 and scared the lion off... (That is) the closest I've been to death so far in my life, and I've done some crazy s**t," 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.