EXCLUSIVE I made a whole documentary tracking down a great white shark to swim with - here's why when I finally found one I had to give up my dream
Sharks Up Close With Bertie Gregory sees the wildlife filmmaker and his team head to South Africa.
They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage.
Throughout the show, Bertie gets up close with a range of underwater animals including southern right whales and spotted ragged tooth sharks.
However, the National Geographic explorer comes across unexpected hurdles in his search for a great white shark.
Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be 'straightforward' to locate one of the most feared sea creatures.
They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage
'I thought this was going to be our most straightforward Animals Up Close sort of episode in this season,' he said.
'We're in the third season, and we've done a lot of very challenging things and I thought this was going to be a slam dunk, super easy.'
During the show, Bertie and his team eventually manage to locate a great white after much difficulty, swimming in the shallows of a beach.
Though they finally get up close to the shark, the 'churned up surf' means the conditions are 'too dangerous' for them to dive with it.
'We had this amazing team there that dived with a lot of great white sharks there before,' he explained.
'The previous few years, the sharks would turn up like clockwork at that time of year, down the seals, and we turned up and Pat, our boat captain, was like, 'Yeah, so we haven't seen a shark yet this year, and the season has been running for two months'.'
Bertie admitted: 'I was literally expecting to see several sharks per day for the month or so that we had filming there and that wasn't the case.'
Reflecting on his search, Bertie says on the programme: 'Great whites are famous for being killing machines, but I've learnt that they're actually very fragile. And I'm pretty sure my mum will be relieved I didn't manage to dive with one.'
Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be 'straightforward' to locate one of the most feared sea creatures
He adds: 'We've spent far too long worrying about great whites when we should be worried for them.'
Bertie does manage to get up close with other shark species and in one dramatic scene, dives into the 'Shark cathedral'.
He described it as 'one of the most incredible sights I've ever had' and recalled how the sharks were 'hanging like spaceships' in the cave.
'Those ragged tooth sharks have terrifying mouths, just teeth, the teeth are just like pouring out of their mouths,' the filmmaker told MailOnline.
'There's something in the back of your head, your caveman instinct, that's saying this isn't a good idea. There's 50 sharks here that are more than two meters long each, and teeth pouring out of their mouths.
'But then I remember my biology and I'm lucky enough to have spent a lot of time around sharks, and know that we are not on their menu, and because of that, it means I could be in awe and enjoy it.'
Despite their formidable mouths, Bertie revealed that ragged tooth sharks are actually 'shy' and can be spooked by simply the bubbles from breathing.
He also has a keen eye for behaviours to look out for in sharks, to ensure he is safe when diving so closely with them.
'So sharks are very expressive. They have body language just like humans do, and you can read that body language to see how they are,' Bertie explained.
The 'key thing' to note, according to the wildlife expert, is the shape of the shark's body, 'particularly their back and their pectoral fins'.
He added: 'If their pectoral fins are flat, that means they're very happy, and if they're pointed down, that means they are either aggressive or spooked or they're not happy.
'They also arch their back when they do that. So if the shark's nice and flat, pectoral fins are nice and flat, they're very happy.
'As soon as those pectoral fins point down and their back arches, that means they're fired up and either they're on the hunt or they've been disturbed by something.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Le Spectre de Boko Haram review – how terror works its way into the minds of children
Shot matter-of-factly, there is however a fairytale or fabular quality to this Cameroonian documentary, in how it portrays the impact of the terrorist group Boko Haram through the lives of children, and how displacement and violence surface in their idle chatter and not-so-innocent drawings. When young truant brothers Mohamed and Ibrahim finally do a runner into the countryside to which they seem inextricably drawn, it almost has the air of some misadventure out of an early Terrence Malick film transplanted to the Sahel. The locale is the village of Kolofata near the Nigerian border, under constant surveillance from military forces because of insurgents in the nearby mountains. It's never 100% clear what has become of Mohamed and Ibrahim's parents; either they've taken up with Boko Haram, or been kidnapped by them. Not that these two incorrigible, school-dodging tykes are much help clearing things up; questioned by concerned villagers, Mohamed, the eldest, obviously knows more than he lets on. Their teacher Mr Lamine has his work cut out to keep them in the classroom; others, such as diligent Falta, realise that studying can mean liberation. Calmly ensconced with the boys as they bicker over whether school or the military are best, or sat with Falta as her mother tries to get her malaria treated, director Cyrielle Raingou simply watches. Even as the classroom insists that alternative paths are open to these youngsters, it often feels as if a mute fatalism governs their lives. Entrenched forces are everywhere; even after the doctor warns her off traditional medicine, Falta's mother still insists on seeing a marabout. Despite their headstrong nature, the brothers seem under the sway of these unknowable gods; and at one point seem to have lost their lives to them, after two youths are reported drowned in a Nigerian river. Raingou demarcates these multiple threads somewhat loosely, making them a bit hard to follow at times. But her decision to portray this conflict indirectly through the most vulnerable and malleable is subtle, powerful and strangely haunting. Le Spectre de Boko Haram is on True Story from 18 July.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
BBC announces Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping a new documentary series for BBC Three and iPlayer, made by BBC Studios
Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping is a new three-part documentary series featuring Chloe Ayling as she recounts, in her own words, the ordeal of her 2017 kidnapping and explores how it continues to shape her life. Giving her first documentary interview since her abductors' conviction, Chloe Ayling revisits the story of her time in captivity and tries to come to terms with what took place, the media reaction and why many people refused to believe her. In the summer of 2017, it was reported that twenty-year-old glamour model, Chloe Ayling, had been kidnapped in Italy by an International criminal gang known as Black Death. Turning up for what she believed to be a photoshoot in Milan, Chloe was grabbed from behind, drugged and bundled into a bag before being taken to a remote farmhouse and handcuffed to a chest of drawers. There, she was told she had six days before she would be sold as sex slave as part of a dark web auction. Despite the terrifying circumstances, Chloe was able to convince her captors to let her walk free and into the hands of the local authorities. However, in the immediate aftermath, with the Italian police investigation still ongoing, Chloe became the subject of global media speculation. Were her abductors really part of a sinister sex slavery ring? How did she persuade them to let her go? And why did Chloe seem so unaffected by what she'd been through? Then, ahead of the court case, as the perpetrators' own version of events was reported, the public were left questioning whether the crime was in fact a publicity stunt to further Chloe's modelling career. Her kidnapper, Lukasz Herba and his brother Michal Herba were subsequently found guilty by an Italian court and jailed. Eight years on, Chloe Ayling now wants to challenge any remaining doubters and finally put the past behind her. Through probing interviews with those involved, the series separates fact from perception and looks at the press coverage of this extraordinary case, the public reaction and asks how a survivor became a suspect. Chloe Ayling says: 'I'm delighted BBC Studios are telling my story - not only in my own words, but also through the voices of those directly involved. For years, people have doubted me, often because they don't understand what really happened — or who I am. I think this documentary truly unravels and dives deep into who I am, the events of the kidnapping, as well as the intense media aftermath that tried to define me. I think people will finally see through the headlines.' Katharine Patrick, Executive Producer says: 'This series enables Chloe to unpack the truth of what happened to her eight years ago, allowing her to process the ordeal she's been through in an honest and unflinching way, and make sense of the person she is now as a result.' Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, says: 'In Chloe's own words, this documentary series will explore what it means to be a victim, who becomes the focus of nationwide speculation and is still living with people's disbelief, eight years later." Fiona Campbell, Controller for Youth Audiences says: 'Chloe presents a brave and compelling perspective of her highly publicised case through this documentary which I hope will provide viewers with a new understanding of the real person behind the headlines.' Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping is a three-part series for BBC Three and iPlayer made by BBC Studios Documentary Unit. The series is commissioned by Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, BBC Documentaries and Fiona Campbell, Controller for Youth Audiences, the Commissioning Editor is Tom Pullen. Executive Producer is Katharine Patrick; the Edit Executive Producer is Magnus Temple and Series Editor is Vivienne Perry. The series is directed by Stuart Bernard and Miles Bladen-Ryall and will be distributed internationally by BBC Studios. GJ Follow for more
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Gold Songs review – story of love and longing in Mozambique's desperately dangerous goldmines
Love heartbreakingly clashes with economic difficulties in Ico Costa's third feature, shot on location in Mozambique and featuring non-professional actors. The film opens on a gentle moment between Domingos (Domingos Marengula) and Neusia (Neusia Emídio Guiamba), their figures wrapped in the velvety half-light of the early dawn. Lying in bed together, the young couple sleepily talk of mundane trivialities but their tender gaze seems to speak louder than words; locked in each other's arms, the pair will soon spend the rest of the film apart. Unsatisfied with the meagre earnings he makes from washing cars, Domingos leaves his home town for the dangerous goldmines in the north of the country. When he enters this precarious trade, the camera trails behind his footsteps as he passes through rocky terrains and makeshift tents. It's an interesting stylistic choice that seeks to emphasise both the geographical specificity and the lethal risks of Domingos's environment, as well as his bond with fellow workers. When seen in group compositions, the men share a moving rapport that can't always resist the callous indifference of an exploitative industry. Nevertheless, with Domingos largely filmed from behind, much of the intimacy seen in the striking first scene is lost. The camera simply gazes at him and his circumstances; we don't get to know anything of his internal world. In comparison, Neusia, who stays behind, is shot in more dynamic closeup; though her scenes are so far and few between that she does not come off as a fully fledged character either. Costa certainly has a keen eye for the landscape and the working-class milieu of Mozambique, but his purely observational style reduces Gold Songs to a detached ethnographic portrait rather than a properly absorbing drama. Gold Songs is at the ICA, London, from 18 July.
