On December 9, 2021, a group of shark watchers were in a cage off the coast of South Africa, near a place called Seal Island. They hoped, as you probably guessed, to see great whites. South Africa is a pretty sharky place, so the chances were good (although no matter how sharky the area is, there’s always a chance you’ll get skunked) that they would be rewarded. And rewarded they were.
Thomas Koukouris was filming inside the cage when a large great white showed up. Storyful picked up his footage. According to Koukouris, there were five people in the cage when the shark showed up. He said that he was “excited up until the shark attacked the cage directly at my face, then I was scared.”
While it’s unlikely the shark meant to strike the cage — it was probably just trying to get a fish — it’s still a scary reminder of just how powerful these sharks can be.
Learn more about sharks in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
