A hippo charged into the path of a man’s car as he drove from Mozambique to South Africa through a national park on Friday, in a terrifying incident that left him fearing for his life.

Wikus Ceronie was travelling through Kruger National Park when he spotted the hippo on the bridge in front of him.

Assuming the hippo was used to human interaction, he took out his camera phone and started filming.

But just moments later the hippo turned and charged at the 26-year-old’s car, leaving a huge dent in the bonnet.

“This is my first time ever working in Mozambique and I was on a jolly journey back home to South Africa. I was crossing the border from Kruger National Park when I noticed a hippo on the bridge. There were people walking around nearby, so I automatically assumed this hippo was used to humans. I was quite fascinated by this so I took out my phone to start filming,” he told LatestSightings.com.

“Suddenly the hippo turned and just started charging. I braced myself as I realised he wasn’t going to stop. He hit the bakkie [truck] head on and then tried biting it. I guess after that he decided he had won because he just turned around and left.”

Mr Ceronie told how he was terrified when he realised the hippo had hit him in the side as to his left there was a 50 metre drop.

“This was terrifying for me because I realised I had nowhere to go and no time to do it in. Beside me was a 50 metre drop so had he hit me on the side I have no doubt the car would have rolled down the embankment,” he said.

Mr Ceronie was stunned by his run-in with the baby hippo and could be heard screaming “s***” as it rammed into his car with force.