Located less than a one hour drive south down the coast from the city of Durban, is the town of Umkomas and the Aliwal Shoal, a long established destination for divers in South Africa. The Shoal takes its name from a ship, the Aliwal, which almost wrecked on the reef in 1849. The reef itself lays approximately three miles off-shore and is approximately three miles long and one mile wide. Aliwal Shoal has been long known for its Ragged Tooth Sharks, or Sand Tigers, which aggregate in numbers in mating season - June through October. During this period, it is common to see anywhere from 15 to up to 50 individuals on a single dive. In addition, sightings of Black-Tip, Hammerhead and Tiger Sharks are relatively common on the Shoal.

Ten years ago, two of the established dive operators in the area began to experiment with the active baiting for Tiger Sharks. Success was immediate and it was not long before the opportunity for recreational divers to share in this experience was being offered commercially. “Tiger Diving” on the Aliwal Shoal has now grown in to an industry within itself, with more than ten dive operators now offering baited Tiger dives. These dives are a nearly indescribable shark experience and it is not uncommon to see as many as 5 Tiger Sharks and up to 50 Black-Tip Sharks on a single dive. For In Depth Dive Travel Clients wishing to include this incredible shark experience in their trip to Africa, we work exclusively with African Watersports, owned and operated by Walter Bernardais, one of the pioneers of baited Tiger Shark diving on the Aliwal Shoal.

Approximately a two hour drive south down the coast from Cape Town is the sleepy fishing village of Gansbaai. For more than ten years, what has brought international divers to this part of the Cape coast is the well-deserved reputation of Gansbaai as being the “Great White Shark Capital of the World”. The unique 20 foot channel that is found approximately 6 miles off-shore between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock has earned international fame as one of the most successful areas in the world to view Great Whites in their natural environment. This “shark channel”,  situated between one island that is habited by seals and the other by birds, is a natural feeding area for these magnificent sharks and has been described as the largest single aggregation area for Great Whites on the planet.

The Great White Shark diving which is conducted in this area is technically not diving, but instead consists of “divers” being lowered in to the water in a cage with wetsuits  and masks and breath holding, while chum and bait is put in to the water to draw the sharks closer to the cage. It is possible to see as many as 5 individual sharks on a single trip and the sharks’ passes from the cage can be no further than a few feet away. For clients of In Depth Dive Travel wishing to include this unforgettable shark experience in their trip to southern Africa, we work exclusively with Shark Diving Unlimited, owned and operated by Mike Rutzen. Mike “Sharkman” Rutzen has worked with Great Whites for more than 10 years and is one of the pioneers of free diving with Whites. Shark Diving Unlimited is a PADI Resort Dive Center and for clients looking to get the most out of their “shark diving” experience, Mike Rutzen personally teaches a three day PADI Great White Shark Specialty course which covers the biology, ecology, behavior and conservation of the Great White. For clients interested in participating in this course, please contact us directly for more details.

Located approximately a 90 minute drive south of the city of Durban, the Protea Banks is a fossilized sand dune reef about 5 miles directly off-shore from Shelley Beach. The reef itself is 4 miles long and one-half mile wide and varies in depth from 90 feet to 130 feet plus. The Protea Banks are known as the “shark diving Mecca” of South Africa, with a large concentration of Bull Sharks and providing fantastic opportunities to dive with large schools of Hammerhead Sharks, Guitar Sharks, Copper and Black-Tip Sharks and the Banks are home to an annual aggregation of mating Ragged-Tooth Sharks, or Sand Tigers, from June through October, with literally hundreds aggregating on the Banks in the last few years.  The Protea Banks are also known for abundant pelagic fish life, including Barracuda, Tuna, Yellowtail and Kingfish.

The diving on Protea Banks was pioneered in large part by Roland and Beulah Mauz, who began to dive the Banks in the early 1990s and who established African Dive Adventures, the premier owner operated dive center in the area, in 1996.  Only a few short years ago, Roland Mauz began to experiment with shark baiting on the Banks, and has established an excellent success with Tiger Sharks together with an excellent success rate with Bull sharks, with anywhere from 5 to 10 individual Bull Sharks on a single dive.  For clients wishing to dive the Banks, In Depth Dive Travel works exclusively with African Dive Adventures to provide for unforgettable Bull and Tiger Shark diving experiences.