Great White Shark – Carcharodon carcharias

The Great White Shark is one of the most fascinating and feared animals on this planet. It is a mysterious animal which we do not know and have difficulty finding much about. The Great White Shark is enormous in size and powerful enough to thrust completely airborne out of the water with a twitch of the tail when taking its prey. This is known as 'Breaching' and we offer trips for you to hopefully see this.

This beautiful animal is one of the most misunderstood creatures on this planet and one which unfortunately nearly became extinct thanks to the era of trophy hunting and 'Jaws' hype. Fortunately the Great White is now protected in many countries and their numbers are increasing. South Africa was the first country to protect the Great White Shark and is now the leader in Eco-Tourism with, on average over 100 people a day traveling to Gansbaai and Cape Town to see these wonderful animals.

Other locations in the world such as Australia (The Neptune Islands) and the United States (Fallaron Island & Isla de Guadalupe) have also established operations to show the world the beauty of this animal. Thanks to such companies anyone can get into the water with the Great White Shark and see them face to face in the safety of a shark cage. The Great White Shark is not a mindless killer as once thought. They have incredible senses including being the only shark to be able to 'Spy hop'. This is when they lift their head out of the water to apparently look for prey (and to look at tourists). The sharks are incredibly cautious and do not just strike at an unknown object but take time to determine what it is before having a taste. We are starting to understand that the White Sharks are not 'Man-eaters' and they do not actually like the taste of humans. It is extremely rare to hear of a White Shark attack when the shark consumed the victim. Most attacks on surfers, divers, spearfishermen end up being non-fatal. The shark will just simply take an exploratory bite to see what you are and after tasting you then will release you. The only problem is that a 'taste' usually results in loss of a limb due to the shark's extremely sharp teeth and strong jaw.

The best time to come and see the White Sharks in South Africa is from April - September. During this time the waters along the coastline warm up despite the outside temperature cooling. You would think this is unusual but during the winter the cold fronts push in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and the water temperature can increase to up to 23C (73F). The sharks are around Dyer Island and Geyser Rock during the winter months looking for a protein rich seal for food source. This is not a problem to find in these waters because the small island of Geyser rock has a population of approximately 60,000 Cape Fur Seals during the winter months.

During these months the island is populated by female seals and seal pups. This is where the pups learn to swim and on many occasions this ends in tragedy through drowning. Once the drowned seal drifts from the Kelp divide then it is simple for a White Shark to collect the easy meal. Occasionally if you are lucky you will see a Great White Shark breach a seal from the water. This is the best way for a shark to catch a seal as you will realise after just watching the seals dance around in the water. The Seals are incredibly agile and are most of the time far too clever and quick for a White Shark to catch them. The White Sharks have adapted to this though and have developed an ambush approach from below known as breaching. This is when the sharks cruise low down keeping a low profile. Their backs are a brown-green colour which camouflages them with the bottom. The sharks then launch from the bottom vertically at the seals taking them by surprise. As the seals are mostly on the surface when being taken this ends up with an incredible display of aerial beauty as the shark launches completely out of the water with the seal in its mouth.

The Sharks are much more relaxed with the boats in the winter months and it doesn't seem to be an issue to them if divers use air in the cage. This is a huge advantage as the divers can then spend much more time underwater with the sharks and possibly get more photo opportunities.

Stricken by fear?

Most divers and shark watchers go out full of nerves wondering what will happen out there. Many imagine these animals from the film 'Jaws' but nearly all come back with love and total respect for the Great White Shark! Think of the Great White Shark as a dolphin with teeth! Everybody should start loving and respecting all sharks just as they do dolphins. Fortunately sharks are becoming a true fascination to people all over the world and the more people we can educate about the importance and sheer beauty of sharks the better chance sharks have to exist naturally in the future.