Great white lunges at Brit on board shark tour boat in South Africa

The terrifying moment a great white shark lunged at a British tourist on board a pleasure boat in South Africa, coming within a few feet of him, has been captured on video. Incredible footage shows a ten-foot great white jumping out of the ocean to catch a huge chunk of fish used as bait before clamping its razor-sharp teeth around it and frantically shaking it until it comes free. It was one of four great white sharks lunging at the boat next to Klein Brak beach, near Mossel Bay, in South Africa.

The video and images of the apex predators were captured using a GoPro hero 10 by a British videographer and dive crew member from a shark cage and from the group’s boat. The group had encountered the great white sharks circling the vessel and lurking menacingly around those in the cage, in scenes reminiscent to Jaws. 

Mark Graham, 31, from Preston, England, was guiding a tour to dive with great white sharks 30 minutes from the Mossel Bay harbour, which lasted around four hours. He was able to capture the intense images and videos of the sharks opening their jaws and coming as close as six feet away. 

Another shocking image shows a great white shark coming right up to the cage next to Klein Brak beach. Mark said he was excited to capture the content as, although he often takes groups out to view the sharks, the ones he usually encounters are not as feisty. 

He said: ‘No no-one felt scared, even the guests that initially didn’t want to get in the water changed their mind and got into the cage to experience the sharks underwater. Great white sharks more often than not are extremely slow and curious staying just below the surface investigating the boat and the cage. So when we do have active days where the great whites show how effective they are as predators breaching out of the water and lunging for the bait it is amazing to see.’ 

Mark is also keen to expel the stereotypes of these magnificent creatures. He said: ‘I don’t think the reputation is justified, with more and more people using the ocean every year with only five fatal shark attacks in 2022, whilst humans kill over 11,000 sharks an hour.’

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