This is the terrifying moment a protective rhino mum charged head-on at a safari jeep to help her injured calf escape from a nearby tiger.

An avid wildlife photographer named Nilesh Shah was on a tour through Kaziranga National Park, India, when his guide spotted tiger tracks nearby. They decided to follow them.

Dramatic footage shows that rather than a big cat appearing in front of them, the rhino mum and her youngster, which was bleeding from the chest, appeared on the road.

The protective mum and her calf ran head-on towards Nilesh, 44, forcing his guide to reverse full speed down the track as the massive animals were just feet away from them before ducking into a nearby bush.

Nilesh, 44, said: “We were speechless, absolutely stunned by the raw power of the chase and the fightback. From far off we saw a mother rhino and her calf running, immediately we felt something might happen and we might see a tiger soon".

He added: "The pair sped across the trail, disappearing in the bush right opposite. We tried to follow the trail, hoping they would reappear. To our absolute shock and dismay, they appeared on the road right ahead of us. The pair stood head-on, ready to charge".

The calf had a gash on its neck which was bleeding profusely.

“In no time, it nudged the baby to run and charged at us as the tiger was chasing them. Our driver reversed at full speed. It was a terrifying 400 metres. We were lucky we didn’t have any jeep behind us otherwise reversing would have been tougher".

The calf saw an opening among the bushes and darted out, thankfully the mother followed as she could not leave the injured calf alone at the mercy of a chasing tiger.

“The tiger after came back alone in search of the calf but the pair seemed to have sprinted away from its clutches", said Nilesh.

This is the ‘terrifying’ moment a protective rhino mum charged head on at a safari jeep to help her injured calf escape from a nearby tiger.

Nilesh Shah was on a tour through Kaziranga National Park, India, at the beginning of March when his guide spotted tiger tracks nearby which they decided to follow.

Dramatic footage shows that rather than a big cat appearing in front of them, the rhino mum and her youngster, which was bleeding from the chest, appeared in the road in front of them.

The ‘ultra-protective’ mum and her calf ran head on towards Nilesh, 44, forcing his guide to reverse full speed down the track as the massive animals were just feet away from them before ducking into a nearby bush.

Nilesh, 44, said: “We were speechless, absolutely stunned by the raw power of the chase and the fightback.

“From far off we saw a mother rhino and her calf running, immediately we felt something might happen and we might see a tiger soon.

“The pair sped across the trail, disappearing in the bush right opposite. We tried to follow the trail, hopping they would reappear.

“To our absolute shock and dismay, they appeared on the road right ahead of us. The pair stood head on, ready to charge.

“The calf had a gash at its neck which was bleeding profusely so the mother rhino was in an extra protective zone and was extra aggressive.

“In no time, it nudged the baby to run and charged at us as the tiger was chasing them.

“Our driver reversed at full speed. It was a terrifying 400 metres. We were lucky we didn’t have any jeep behind us otherwise reversing would be tougher.

“The rampaging stampede seemed interminable, and the mother was close to overturning our jeep. Our hearts were in our mouth.

“Finally, our prayers were answered. The calf saw an opening among the bushes and darted out, thankfully the mother followed as she could not leave the injured calf alone at the mercy of a chasing tiger.”

Nilesh is an avid wildlife photographer and tries to get to India’s jungles as often as possible.

Nilesh said: “Normally at the beginning of March, spring engulfs the jungle and the atmosphere is soothing and completely tranquil.

“But our tranquillity was smashed to smithereens in an instant, in the unpredictability which the jungle always beholds.

“The entire jungle seemed to come alive and vibrate. We thought two scenarios were possible where either something had happened to the baby or the mother would have overpowered the tiger.

“It was a few moments of silence in the jungle and suddenly the mother rhino and the calf came out on the road and crossed the roads in the bushes, then came the tiger chasing them on the same trail right across our jeep.

“Then was the most surprising part of the whole event. We were stunned to see a fully grown rhino chasing the tiger.

“The mother and calf took advantage of their new protector and slipped away in the direction of a river nearby.

“The tiger after few moments came back alone a number of times in search of the calf but the pair seemed to have sprinted away from its clutches.”