JEREMY Clarkson has joked that Richard Hammond, a former Top Gear presenter who lives in Herefordshire, was “eaten by wild animals” while they were “marooned” in Africa.

The pair, along with their other co-star James May, were stranded at a luxury camp in Botswana after their British Airways flight was delayed by 12 hours. They had been in Africa filming for the new series of Prime Video's Grand Tours.

The flight delays led to a series of witty posts about the trio’s “survival” as they relaxed by the pool in a luxurious safari camp, sipping gin and tonics and being waited on by a team of 40 staff.

Taking to Instagram, Clarkson wrote: “British Airways have messed up our flight home, so we are marooned here at a luxury camp in Botswana.”

He then joked that Hammond had been eaten by wild animals, posting a picture of a jackal feasting on a carcass followed by a picture of Clarkson and May captioned "Missing man formation".

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Meanwhile, May also took to social media to joke about the flight delays, writing: “Thanks to the incompetence of British Airways we’ve had to endure a sunset safari with gin and tonics and meerkats.”

He joked that the group had been forced to turn to “ancient foraging instincts” to survive, with a picture of some beef Hula Hoops.

The stars returned to Heathrow over the weekend, with Hammond meeting his 22-year-old daughter Isabella at the airport.

The father and daughter, who live in a castle in Weston-under-Penyard near Ross-on-Wye, looked delighted to be reunited.