That’s all changed. The harbour at Kleinbaai boats a fleet of specially designed shark cage diving boats, you can find a decent cappuccino in town (a good measure of the affluence of visitors and residents) and there are a number of excellent guest houses.

The watershed between the old and the new, according to Wilfred Chivell, owner of Marine Dynamics, was when David Doubilet’s photograph of a Gansbaai great white appeared on the April 2000 issue of National Geographic. It was accompanied by a story by Peter Benchley, the man who terrified the world 25 years ago by writing the book on which the movie Jaws was based.

After that, Chivell says, the demand picked up, and the dive operators started cleaning up their act, becoming more responsible.

Chivell owns the Great White House, a combination of rendezvous for trips, restaurant and guest house. And McLean is adding the finishing touches to the White Shark Embassy, a restaurant and shop where dive groups can meet before trips and unwind afterwards. This town is booming.

And it’s not just the tourism infrastructure. The tourism dollar and euro has also paid for development in the Gansbaai’s poorer areas. A brand new soccer field has been built, and a new high school is under construction.

Research, education and conservation

Today, the more responsible shark-diving companies are tying their tourism activities in with research to ensure good decisions in conservation legislation, as well as educational programmes in which they expose members of the local community to the beauty and value of the sharks and the marine environment in general.

Because the permit system is still being finalised, there is no way for consumers to judge the quality and dedication of the shark operators.

"If there was some kind of accreditation system," says Lesley Rochat of the Save our Seas Foundation, "the people who are doing good work would get the business."

In the absence of permits Chivell applied for and was awarded Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) accreditation. FTTSA certifies tourism companies that display a commitment to community development, fair labour practices and environmental sustainability. Marine Dynamics is the only shark diving company to have applied to FTTSA, and he hopes that others will follow suit, as this would set a benchmark by which companies could be evaluated.

Chivell employs a full-time marine biologist on his dive boat, and has done ever since he started the business just over three years ago. As well as the shark diving, he runs the only licensed whale-watching boat from Kleinbaai.

Both the Great White House and the White Shark Embassy have dedicated lecture rooms where clients can be properly briefed before the trip, and where children’s educational programmes can be run.

Shark diving trips cost between R800 - R1500, which usually includes transport from and back to Cape Town.

Courtesy of www.MediaClubSouthAfrica.com