He says he only escaped unharmed because he was not wearing headphones and there were sticks and rocks to hand with which he eventually scared the animal off.

On his Instagram account, which is dedicated mainly to his art work and using his full name Richard J Oliver, he says: "Jumping out of the thicket on to the trail about 25ft away the lion approached seeming disappointed I had heard it coming.

"It adopted a low profile as it moved toward me. Now the first thing that came to mind was, 'Aw beautiful cat like the ones in the zoo,' swiftly followed by a daunting realisation of the danger I was in.