Cage diving with sharksin Gansbaai
A tour that gets rescheduled because of the weather, a cage for five, chum in fish oil, and bronze whaler sharks instead of white ones. What to know before you book.
In mid-March I went on my own to look at sharks from a cage. I really liked it. It was great, although not at all the way the adverts promise.
In short
Be ready for a postponement
It all depends on the weather. My tour was postponed by a week, and they tell you closer to the date. So it’s better not to book for the last days of your trip.
The road and the boat
They picked me up in Cape Town and took me to Kleinbaai near Gansbaai, about an hour and a half. The road was very beautiful in the morning.
It’s a popular place, with lots of boats. There are two options: something like snorkelling at the surface, and hookah, that’s not scuba diving: they simply hand you a regulator on a hose and you breathe through it. All in all, fine.
Then everyone boards the boat, sails to a certain spot and waits for sharks.
The chum
The sharks are fed. The chum is big pieces of meat and fish, all in fish oil. This “bouquet” is tied to a rope: it’s thrown into the water and you wait.
Be ready for the smell. The bait is next to the cage, and some bits may well end up on you. When I climbed out I didn’t seem to smell of anything, but the smell itself is sharp.
In the cage
As soon as they see a shark has arrived, everyone is put into the cage. The conditions aren’t the most comfortable: there are five people in the cage. And our water was murky, so visibility was worse. And it was cold: the water was about 16 °C.
The sharks don’t really come up to the cage: they mustn’t bump their noses, it would hurt them. And they pass by fast. So my advice: film in slow motion.
White sharks and bronze whalers
In all the adverts it will say “White Sharks”. But in practice you’ll most likely see bronze whaler sharks. You’ll be told this only after booking.
Here’s what the company itself writes: lately mostly schools of bronze whalers, 3–3.5 metres long on average, are seen. A white shark was last seen here on 31 October 2025. White sharks in South Africa are endangered, according to the company, fewer than a few hundred are left. Meeting a white shark is “a privilege, not a guarantee”.
A bronze whaler is a great find too. They’re big, and I truly saw sharks in the flesh. I really liked this experience.
If there are no sharks at all, the company gives a voucher for a free trip. It’s valid for two years and only for the same person. They don’t refund money: terms on the company’s website.
A film
There’s a documentary, “The Last Shark”, about why white sharks are disappearing from the South African coast. It was made by researchers and people who work in the ocean, and it premiered in 2023 right in Gansbaai. The film is free on YouTube.
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