A college student from Seattle went on a safari trip during spring break and got a lot closer to the wildlife than he planned. His group had been hoping to spot animals from a distance but things quickly changed when one cheetah climbed into their vehicle.

Britton Hayes was touring with Grand Ruaha Safari when the group saw three cheetah brothers hunting in the Serengeti. Hayes said: “We started to notice the cheetahs became curious of the vehicle. But it was too late to drive quickly away or anything like that because you don’t want to startle the animals, because that’s when things usually go wrong.”

While one cheetah jumped on the hood, another slipped into the backseat right behind him. Hayes admitted it was not something anyone expected.

He said: “One of the cheetahs hopped onto the hood and was sniffing around, so we were all focused on the cheetah on the hood that was looking around. While we were all watching the cheetah in the front, one of the brothers had flanked around the back and hopped in back of the vehicle to try and sniff us and make sure that we weren’t a threat.”

His first reaction was to panic but the safari guide told him to stay calm and breathe slowly.

Another tourist filmed the entire scene while the cheetah inspected the jeep. The guide told Hayes not to make eye contact and to let the animal finish exploring.

Hayes said: “Honestly, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life while it was happening. I felt like I had to clear my mind of any thoughts because from everything you’re told about predators like that, they can sense fear and any sort of discomfort you’re feeling and they’ll react accordingly. I wanted to be as calm and as still as possible to avoid a bad outcome.”

Hayes did not even tell his mom, who works as a news anchor in Seattle, until he got back home safe. He said: “I was worried that [she] might freak out and would’ve forced me to come home. So I figured it’s best to not have [he]) worry, when there’s not much you can do about it when I’m that far away.”

When the cheetah finally left the jeep, the group sat in silence for a few moments before realizing they had made it through unharmed.

Hayes said: “The sheer tension of sitting in a vehicle thinking, ‘I’m going to die,’ and then living. We just, everyone in the car just looked at each other, we paused for 10 seconds as the cheetahs walked away and we couldn’t believe that we got out of the situation, that it was real.”

Later, the group was able to laugh about it, but during those ten minutes, it felt like life and death.