Pieter Nortje, 55, was having a guided tour of the ferocious big cats while celebrating his wedding anniversary at a game lodge in South Africa.

His wife, Ilze, who was filming at the time of the incident, captured the moment the lioness clamped her jaws around his arm.

The footage shows Peeter leaning into the enclosure to stroke an adult male on his back before tickling behind his ears.

He is heard making a joke to his wife Ilze, saying: “If you bite me, then I’m going to bite you back.”

A young lioness approaches the edge of the fencing as the male predator takes a step away.

Pieter, whose arm is still waving inside of the enclosure, says to her: “Come here lovey, let daddy stroke you.”

The lioness digs its teeth into his arm as Ilze screams: “It’s biting him, it’s biting him.”

The big cat then attempts to pull the man closer towards the fence.

Pieter’s arm is held in the predator’s mouth for five seconds before Ilze’s screams appear to distract the lioness.

A South African game ranger at another park who saw the video said: “The man was lucky that the lioness was probably not hungry or not used to killing live prey outside in the wild.

“Lions are pack animals and hunt as a team so others in the enclosure could have joined in and if they had they could have killed him whether there was a fence between them or not.  

“Some people never learn that where wild animals are concerned to keep a distance between them and you.”

Mr Nortje – who works as a mechanic at SA Truck Bodies in Bloemfontein – and his receptionist wife were unavailable for comment as was a friend who joined them for the weekend break.

It is not the first time a wild lion has attacked a human.

Last week, a rhino poacher was trampled by an elephant before being devoured by a lion.

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