A heroine lioness invites a pack of hungry wild dogs to attack her, allowing her cub to escape.

Shalin Fernando was on a safari drive through the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana when she spotted a mum and her cub encircled by the hungry hoard.

The pack of at least nine predators close their circle on the pair, the lioness leaps out at a couple of the dogs inviting the rest of the pack to descend on her.