A Thrill Seeker? Cage Dive with Great White Shark in South Africa

A close encounter with a great white shark is a bucket list adventure not to be missed for adrenaline junkies considering a trip to South Africa. Several spots in the Western Cape offer guided cage diving tours that let you get up close and personal with the ocean's most feared apex predator while remaining safe. In this post, we'll tell you how to cage dive with great white sharks in a way that's safe for both you and the sharks.

Shark cages have been around since the 1950s when they were first proposed by Jacques Cousteau and further improved by famed shark attack victim Rodney Fox. They're composed of galvanized steel tubing and float on the water's surface, with the cage's top above the water's surface. This allows you to enter directly from the boat. Shark cages are attached to the boat at all times, and typically have a "window" or gap big enough to allow a clear view through the bars while still keeping inquisitive sharks from getting too close.