VIDEO: Angry Lion Attacks Safari Car

The gripping video shows two lions attacking the car in which a group of tourists was travelling.

The footage was taken by a driver, who was driving a safari bus in Bannerghatta Biological Park in Karnataka, India.

According to Wikipedia, Bannerghatta National Park, near Bangalore, Karnataka, was founded in 1970 and declared as a national park in 1974. In 2002 a portion of the park, became a biological reserve, the Bannerghatta Biological Park. It is a popular tourist destination with a zoo, a pet corner, an animal rescue centre, a butterfly enclosure, an aquarium, a snake house and a safari park.

There are ancient temples in the park for worship and it is a destination for trekking and hiking. The Zoo Authority of Karnataka, the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) are collaborating agencies.

Within the national park area are six rural villages enclosed within three large enclosures for sheep and cattle farming.

The 65,127.5 acre (260.51 km2) national park is located about 22 km south of Bangalore in the hills of the Anekal range with an elevation of 1245 – 1634m. The park has a hilly terrain of granite sheets under moist deciduous forest valleys and scrubland on higher areas.

Sixteen villages border the park. The park is part of a wildlife corridor for elephants which connects the BR Hills and the Sathyamangalam forest. The park is contiguous with Talli reserve forest in the southeast and Bilikal forest in the south.

The park’s rainfall is 700 mm per year. The Suvarnamukhi stream runs through the national park. On 15 May 2014, four bore wells were opened to provide water in dry times.

The biological park is a zoological reserve named for Y. M. L Sharma, a Conservator of Forests of Karnataka, who petitioned for the creation of the park. It shelters mammals such as Indian tigers (including white tigers) and lions.

The park offers safari excursions managed and supported by the Karnataka State Tourist Development Corporation (KSTDC).

In late September 2013, the safari was closed for weeks due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among the herbivorous animals. The safari includes separate sections for herbivores e.g. spotted dear and carnivores as bears, lions, white tigers and Bengal tigers.

Bannerghatta is the first biological park in India to have a fenced forested elephant sanctuary where elephants can roam around freely without chains. It is designed by elephant expert Carol Buckley and covers an area of 122 acres.

The fence is sponsored by animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, which raised funds of Rs. 1 crore for its installation.

“The elephants are absolutely free to roam without human interference, and will be free of tussles with other wild elephants,” Manilal Valliyate, PETA India’s Director of Veterinary Affairs was quoted saying in an interview to The Hindu.

According to a report published in Times of India, US elephant expert Margaret Whittaker came up with the innovative idea after visiting BBP last year. She gave the local mahouts training on ‘protected contact’ with the jumbos.