White Shark Africa
White Shark Africa
4.5
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Full view
About
Mossel Bay, South Africa
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
472 reviews
Excellent
336
Very good
70
Average
18
Poor
19
Terrible
29
HeavyMetalMadMan
Mossel Bay, South Africa38 contributions
Sept 2020 • Family
It was a world class experience, once you get in the water, and see a great white shark in front of your eyes, and if you are brave, you could easily touch it (not recommended). It is mind blowing. Until you have experienced it yourself, there are no words. The White Shark crew are an amazing bunch of guys, truly friendly, supportive, and professional. A must if given the opportunity 🙏🏻✨
Written 24 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tripp S
Charlottesville, VA92 contributions
Jul 2021
This was a HIGHLIGHT of my trip to South Africa.... These guys were no nonsense and efficient and no frills but they knew what they were doing. They brought the sharks!! There were white sharks all over and hitting the cage and swimming by the cage and DANG! They supplied masks and wetsuits and an incredible experience. Bring a towel, bring a camera, bring booties and gloves if you can.... it is cold in July. The cage is easy to get in and out, there is no need for scuba or snorkel and then enjoy!
Written 29 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michal K
Prague, Czech Republic11 contributions
Aug 2021
Good communication before the trip, everything went as planned. The guys knew what they were doing. Took us about 30 minutes before we saw first shark and many more followed. The staff gave as interesting insights and kept us safe. It seems like this is the most consistent shark-sighting-area, perhaps globally. Recommended!
Written 10 September 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BryanNYC01
30 contributions
Dec 2021 • Friends
After 3 hours of waiting, we saw 3 sharks in the final 15 minutes, which kick saved an otherwise mediocre to unpleasant experience. Nature is nature and I don’t fault the company for what they can’t control. However, what they could control they didn’t do well.
In short, I’d recommend this trip if you’re already in the area, have the money & time, like great white sharks and have realistic expectations. However, I would not build a trip around this experience, as I’ve seen others do, as you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.
We did see three great white sharks (on the smaller side), a few dolphins & seals, but it’s more complex than that. With the weather, limited water visibility and their natural camouflage you basically need the sharks to be right at the surface & in front of you to see them. You also need to get into the cage when they’re close and bait them to you to get a good experience. That’s a lot of variables to get right. We did get the right combo a few times, but not many. We were fortunate to get a good encounter while in the cage, but I don’t think everyone was so lucky.
Outside of the sharks, there is nothing to do. I’m a bit surprised by this as shark sightings seem increasingly less likely in the area so you’d think the company would have this worked out. Rather than build in some other aspects of the trip like educating guests on evolving shark challenges (overfishing, loss of habitat, global warming), sealife facts, promoting conservation & respect for nature, etc…they went with the opposite approach and made the trip very bare bones. We sat in awkward silence for the first 3 hours until we saw the sharks. No crew introductions, no music, no effort to engage with guests, no basic tour info on the area, etc…
The service really rubbed us the wrong way. The lady who checked us in at registration was unpleasant, unhelpful and made a terrible first impression. You’re lucky if you get one word answers out of her. Additionally, I also wanted to figure out how to work the go pro we rented from them before getting on the boat, which we weren’t able to do. So, unfortunately, the videos / pics didn’t turn out well as we struggled to use it properly.
In the end, we felt like obligations and just another boat they needed to fill to pay the bills. What a shame, the sharks deserve better.
In short, I’d recommend this trip if you’re already in the area, have the money & time, like great white sharks and have realistic expectations. However, I would not build a trip around this experience, as I’ve seen others do, as you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.
We did see three great white sharks (on the smaller side), a few dolphins & seals, but it’s more complex than that. With the weather, limited water visibility and their natural camouflage you basically need the sharks to be right at the surface & in front of you to see them. You also need to get into the cage when they’re close and bait them to you to get a good experience. That’s a lot of variables to get right. We did get the right combo a few times, but not many. We were fortunate to get a good encounter while in the cage, but I don’t think everyone was so lucky.
Outside of the sharks, there is nothing to do. I’m a bit surprised by this as shark sightings seem increasingly less likely in the area so you’d think the company would have this worked out. Rather than build in some other aspects of the trip like educating guests on evolving shark challenges (overfishing, loss of habitat, global warming), sealife facts, promoting conservation & respect for nature, etc…they went with the opposite approach and made the trip very bare bones. We sat in awkward silence for the first 3 hours until we saw the sharks. No crew introductions, no music, no effort to engage with guests, no basic tour info on the area, etc…
The service really rubbed us the wrong way. The lady who checked us in at registration was unpleasant, unhelpful and made a terrible first impression. You’re lucky if you get one word answers out of her. Additionally, I also wanted to figure out how to work the go pro we rented from them before getting on the boat, which we weren’t able to do. So, unfortunately, the videos / pics didn’t turn out well as we struggled to use it properly.
In the end, we felt like obligations and just another boat they needed to fill to pay the bills. What a shame, the sharks deserve better.
Written 27 December 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JannekeL
Breda, The Netherlands1 contribution
Oct 2022
When you go on a trip like this, you always have the risk of not spotting any sharks. But it's really disappointing if they hardly do anything to make this possible. When they told us, almost 4 hours later, that they didn't spot any sharks for the last 6 weeks we felt like we have been fooled. But the worst thing is, that they promised to send us a voucher that would be valid for life. Not interesting for ourselves, but maybe we could make someone else happy with this voucher so we gave them our email-adres. Two months and multiple emails (without any response) later we still didn't receive any voucher. Really disappointing, not because we think we would ever use the voucher, but because we believe in keeping your promises.
Budget wise the most expensive activity of our holiday but also the biggest disappointment.
Budget wise the most expensive activity of our holiday but also the biggest disappointment.
Written 29 November 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lar1087
Washington DC, DC101 contributions
Oct 2024 • Couples
We went on a tour in October 2024 with White Shark Africa, as it’s recommended in Lonely Planet and we had a friend recommend.
The issues started from the first interactions. I had to call twice — international calls charged as such — to actually make a booking, after the company failed to respond to emails and WhatsApp messages. The first time I was told I had a booking and they’d email a confirmation (because they’d seen my email from a week ago but just hadn’t bothered to respond). I didn’t receive any email so I called back a week later — no record of the first call. Never did receive an email, though I did eventually get a WhatsApp message. They also didn’t let us know a time in advance, which made it difficult to plan around. The day of the tour, we arrived into Mossel Bay around 45 minutes before the scheduled time and stopped for coffee/breakfast. We ended up having to rush because the coffee shop was slow, and we arrived on time. We just signed a waiver, paid by credit card, and then us and the two others on the tour just sat in the office for 20 minutes without any explanation or greeting.
You then walk down to the harbor and board a boat and have a 15 minute ride to Seal Island, where we docked for around 3 hours to look for sharks. We were offered only a bottle of water or juice and a bag of potato chips but their website said breakfast, a light lunch, and tea would be provided. So we got off the boat around 2pm pretty hungry. It isn’t an issue that no food is provided, it’s that the website specifically says that it will be and then it isn’t.
We didn’t see any sharks and we were told they’ve only seen sharks once in the last five weeks. The crew was great and the skipper told several entertaining stories while we waited. And it must be very hard for them with disappointed tourists and the lack of sharks in the area.
I realize that it is nature and shark sightings are not guaranteed, but we weren’t told that it was only about a 5-10% chance of seeing sharks. We weren’t told that they hadn’t had recent sightings until we were about to walk to the harbor. If we’d known the low likelihood of seeing sharks, we would have likely skipped Mossel Bay altogether on our garden route roadtrip because there are so many other amazing activities in the area.
The cost is also steep, at $160 USD/person. That’s a lot for what amounted to a 30 minute boat ride, anchoring for 3ish hours, and a bottle of water and personal bag of chips. Since we didn’t see sharks, were offered a voucher for another tour in the next year. We went to the office after the tour to ask about the voucher, and they said they’d email it. We have not received any email with a voucher.
So there’s both a monetary and opportunity cost to doing a tour like this that I wish I’d known about before booking, which is why I’m posting this review.
The issues started from the first interactions. I had to call twice — international calls charged as such — to actually make a booking, after the company failed to respond to emails and WhatsApp messages. The first time I was told I had a booking and they’d email a confirmation (because they’d seen my email from a week ago but just hadn’t bothered to respond). I didn’t receive any email so I called back a week later — no record of the first call. Never did receive an email, though I did eventually get a WhatsApp message. They also didn’t let us know a time in advance, which made it difficult to plan around. The day of the tour, we arrived into Mossel Bay around 45 minutes before the scheduled time and stopped for coffee/breakfast. We ended up having to rush because the coffee shop was slow, and we arrived on time. We just signed a waiver, paid by credit card, and then us and the two others on the tour just sat in the office for 20 minutes without any explanation or greeting.
You then walk down to the harbor and board a boat and have a 15 minute ride to Seal Island, where we docked for around 3 hours to look for sharks. We were offered only a bottle of water or juice and a bag of potato chips but their website said breakfast, a light lunch, and tea would be provided. So we got off the boat around 2pm pretty hungry. It isn’t an issue that no food is provided, it’s that the website specifically says that it will be and then it isn’t.
We didn’t see any sharks and we were told they’ve only seen sharks once in the last five weeks. The crew was great and the skipper told several entertaining stories while we waited. And it must be very hard for them with disappointed tourists and the lack of sharks in the area.
I realize that it is nature and shark sightings are not guaranteed, but we weren’t told that it was only about a 5-10% chance of seeing sharks. We weren’t told that they hadn’t had recent sightings until we were about to walk to the harbor. If we’d known the low likelihood of seeing sharks, we would have likely skipped Mossel Bay altogether on our garden route roadtrip because there are so many other amazing activities in the area.
The cost is also steep, at $160 USD/person. That’s a lot for what amounted to a 30 minute boat ride, anchoring for 3ish hours, and a bottle of water and personal bag of chips. Since we didn’t see sharks, were offered a voucher for another tour in the next year. We went to the office after the tour to ask about the voucher, and they said they’d email it. We have not received any email with a voucher.
So there’s both a monetary and opportunity cost to doing a tour like this that I wish I’d known about before booking, which is why I’m posting this review.
Written 20 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Shauna D
4 contributions
Aug 2023 • Couples
We were told- after we had paid- that sharks had not been spotted for two months due to orca activity. Surprise, surprise, we failed to see any sharks! Although we did see whales up close as well as lots of seals, there were no sharks. While you can't predict that you will be able to see wildlife, if you haven't seen any shark activity for 2 months, the trip should be cancelled. This is the worst kind of tourist trap and I feel cheated. Be very careful about booking this, or any shark cage diving activity.
Written 23 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Celine O Connor
9 contributions
Jun 2024 • Couples
Where to begin, having spoke to Mark on white shark ocean TikTok page for months before our arrival and waiting in anticipation for the hope of great whites returning this trip was an absolute dream come through. From start to finish we enjoyed every second of it. Special mention to mark and skipper Chris, the most amazing men that we had the privilege to meet, they and the crew made our two days so memorable. I left Mossel bay and honestly left a bit of my soul there and shed tears for the beautiful memories, the chats and laughs on the boat, the 5 breaches of a humpback whale, a huge pod of dolphins passing us, a wealth of knowledge about sharks and conservation and most importantly the loss of the great white population. I am hoping with all hope they will return 🦈☘️. And although we didn’t see great white sharks on both days it was definitely not from a lack of trying. The dedication put in by the team and skipper Christ to try and find these beautiful majestic animals was second to none. We are so greatful for the experience it was truly amazing and it was an absolutely pleasure to meet ye all and will be wishing for the great whites safe return to their home. We have travelled a lot but someone told me that I would fall in love with South Africa and indeed I did. I have never been to such a beautiful country. Lots of love from Celine and Joey from Ireland. Xxx ❤️❤️🦈🦈🐋🐳
Written 28 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Barbara
1 contribution
Jan 2020
No one in the office seems to know whether there is a trip going out or not.... nightmare if you are planning a holiday. Staff are insular and very unhelpful actually downright rude.
The whole experience is a nightmare from beginning to end. No communication whatsoever.
The whole experience is a nightmare from beginning to end. No communication whatsoever.
Written 18 December 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Odette T
4 contributions
Oct 2024 • Solo
This trip has been a dream for many years and I was so looking forward to it. I booked for an 8am start but this was delayed by 2hrs which messed up our schedule of heading back to Capetown.
The worst bit of the trip was that the staff KNEW there was very little chance of seeing a great white but only admitted this after taking payment and just before leaving. At this point you can’t get your money back.
We got the same story about the Orca’s chasing away the great whites but this happened in 2022. They are still telling people the same story.
I paid £130 for the experience when they knew in advance the chance of seeing a shark was very slim. Our stay in Mossel Bay was specifically for this experience for myself and I would never have wasted my time or money had I known how unlikely it was to see a shark. I feel cheated and very disappointed.
The worst bit of the trip was that the staff KNEW there was very little chance of seeing a great white but only admitted this after taking payment and just before leaving. At this point you can’t get your money back.
We got the same story about the Orca’s chasing away the great whites but this happened in 2022. They are still telling people the same story.
I paid £130 for the experience when they knew in advance the chance of seeing a shark was very slim. Our stay in Mossel Bay was specifically for this experience for myself and I would never have wasted my time or money had I known how unlikely it was to see a shark. I feel cheated and very disappointed.
Written 20 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tac72
Bracknell, United Kingdom
Good morning
Is March a good month for shark sightings?
Have there been any Great White sightings recently?
Do you get a full refund if cancelled due to bad weather?
Do you get a full refund if no shark sightings?
Thank you Tracy
Written 20 October 2021
Oi, estaremos em Mossel em abril, foram avistados tubarões brancos este ano???
Written 27 January 2020
Yes. Most reliable location for GW. Good crew. Triple check your camera gear, batteries, power supply. Enjoy.
Written 13 January 2020
Ola Bruno, meu nome é Adriana, vi sua avaliação e se vc puder me esclarecer... o passeio custa aproximadamente R$ 560 pra mergulhar? Existe o passeio só para ver os tubarões do barco, sem mergulho, com um preço menor? Obrigada!
Written 29 October 2019
what time do I need to arrive for the tour tomorrow? 09/21
Written 20 September 2019
The website isn't working for booking. Anyone knows if the shark cave diving is still working?
Written 13 September 2019
Boa noite, como vc conseguiu fazer a reserva? Pelo site esta dando erro... obrigada!
Written 30 August 2019
ciao, mi confermi che hai visto lo squalo bianco ? c'è il rischio di non vederli o bisogna solo scegliere il tour e la compagnia migliore ?
grazie
Written 20 July 2019
Hi ! For those who have been there, is it safe to give your credit card details to do the reservation ?
Written 12 February 2019
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