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A family were alarmed when what started as a normal morning drive became a frightening encounter with three enormous white rhinos.

Mother-of-one Holly Powers, originally from Oregon, lives in Pretoria, in the Gauteng Province of South Africa with her husband and their 20-month-old son, Thomas.

The incident occurred when the family went for a morning drive around the Rietvlei Nature Reserve just ten minutes from their home.

One of the rhinos started to walk towards the family's car, but soon picked up its pace to running at full speed

Mr Powers warned his wife that rhinos have been known to occasionally attack cars in Kruger National Park

The third rhino to emerge started to charge the car carrying Mrs Powers' 20-month-old son Thomas in the back seat

Mrs Powers recalled: 'We have a 20-month-old little boy who wakes up at 5:30 am every day, so on this morning we decided to get up and take a drive.

'A short time after entering the reserve we encountered two white rhinos about a 100 metres down the road.

'They both slowly sauntered toward our car and got very close but were not aggressive in any way.

'While watching the two that were right near our car we noticed a third step out of the bushes, 100 metres away, where we had first seen the original two. 

Against the advice of her husband who told her to wind up her window, Mrs Powers kept it down to take photos of the charge

'Fortunate': Mrs Powers said the experience was incredible and felt fortunate to be present to witness such a special event

'This rhino headed in our direction starting out at a slow walk but then suddenly started to run toward us at full speed.'

With adrenalin pumping and against the advice of her husband, who warned she should wind the window up, Mrs Summer managed to capture the third rhino as it hurtled full-pelt towards the family car. 

She continued: 'I was in awe of the first two rhinos that were so close to our car and when the third stepped out of the bushes I was shocked that there was a third.

'When it started to run at full speed my thoughts went to my camera that was already in my hand and ready to go.

'I couldn't believe how fast such a large creature could run - I caught almost its entire approach on my camera all while my head was out the window and my husband was yelling at me again and again to roll up the window.'

Up close: Mother-of-one Holly Powers captured what it's like to be charged by a one-and-a-half tonne rhino

Soon after entering the reserve the family encountered two white rhinos about a 100 metres down the road

She added: 'My adrenaline was running and I was so excited that I was catching this whole thing with my camera that I really didn't think about the danger.

'My husband was stressed and knew we were at some risk because rhinos have been known to occasionally attack cars in Kruger National Park and other places around South Africa.

'I suppose as long as we were in the car we weren't at any real risk of physical injury, just damage to our car. In addition, these rhinos had been de-horned for anti-poaching purposes, so this inherently lowered the potential damage risk as well.'

Thankfully there was nothing to worry about and despite charging towards them the rhino slowed as quick as it had started and joined its companions just feet from the car.

It started as a normal family drive: Mrs Powers, left, and her twenty-month-old son Thomas, right

Footage taken by Holly's husband Christopher, 37, shows just how close the animals were.

Holly said: 'All three hung out around our car for a while and then continued on down the road.

'We turned the car around and followed them for a bit. I'm glad that we did because just a little down the road we came to a small mud pit where we then witnessed each of them take turns rolling around in the mud.

'The whole experience was incredible and we couldn't believe how close we were the whole time. We felt fortunate to be the only people present to witness all of this.'