5 days lef with my Tigers !!!

[Mark Thorpe]

This project on Tiger Sharks is almost at an end.....I'm gonna miss these puppies. I mean look, they are so sweet, they come when called.....



OK, so sometimes they get a bit close ...........

So just a friendly shove to send them on their way is all thats needed.....

Quite simple really. All shot this morning on the Aliwal Shoal region of south Africa. ALmost done here. Bummer.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S I was in the water with a safety diver, just us two with 9 Tigers and around 50 other smaller (6ft) Blacktip Sharks. Livin' Large.

 

[Shawn Booth]

Wow, simply wow. Great stuff, would love to see footage when you're fin.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Tiger Sharks scare the hell out of me. We had a beach house down in Costa Rica and we used to throw these big parties and everyone would get drunk and go out swimming in the crashing waves at night... until we found out that Tiger sharks were prowling those waters every night. After that, even with a few beers in me I was too scared to go out past my knees.

How dangerous do you think they are, Mark, compared to other sharks?

 

[Anders Yarbrough]

Maybe a stupid question...were those stills from your footage? If so, was t available light? How deep were you? any heat type problems in the housing?

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Tom, Tiger Sharks are very indiscriminate in their feeding habits and as such stomach contents from fished or dead animals found in the Ocean has revealed Beer tins, Batteries, Car License Plates, Bottles, Cats, Dogs, Fish, Sea Turtles and Humans. They are one of a few species, the other main ones being Oceanic Whitetip and the Bull Shark, which actually don't mind a bit of human meat on the menu. Most sea disasters result in these guys along with the more tropically pelagic inclined Oceanic Whitetip as the main instigators to pick off survivors and victims of such events. Many cases of downed airmen in WWII succumbing to sharks in the more tropical regions of the South China Sea and the Pacific.

So yeah, these guys can be potentially dangerous. Our encounters today were with six younger, 7ft, animals who were very, very curious of us and our gear. I guess its because I had placed a couple of yellow reflective discs on my camera housing just to get them in for the closest shots thus far from my hand held housing system. Munchy stuff, almost.

ayarbro, this footage stills are from HDV (this is the off topic section so I share my other non RED related work here too). They are all taken with available light at 30ft depth. The second image, b/w, is from an animal borne imaging system that had been placed on the shark. The image was gained one the system had detached from the animal which spiked the curiosity of the shark who came back to investigate its unwanted hitchhiker. Sharks, as they don't have hands, tend to investigate things with their mouths !!

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S Watch this space for news on RED Tigers, coming soon.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Can't wait to see what you'll do with Red, man.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Mark were swimming with these guys with no cage?

 

[Gisle K. Sverdrup]

Hi Mark!

I would love to see some footage of those babies!! I was at Aliwal one and a half years ago, but I only had two days with the tigers (did lots more with the raggies though). We even had a bull swimming by... I only did stills though.
Are there still a lot of tiger sharks down there? I heard that a lot of them were fished.. Do you recognize the same individuals as before the fishing (you've been there a while, haven't you??), or have new ones moved in for the ones taken?

Enjoy the last few days there, and say hi to them for me

Gisle

 

[Mark Thorpe]

Watching Me, Watching You (uhh huhhh)......

Watching Me, Watching You (uhh huhhh)......

Almost Abbaesque in my words.

Tom, why would I want to be bound to the confined space of a cage? No cages here my friend. Here's a couple of shots from yesterday. First shows a still from my HDV rig showing the camera totting Tiger and the second image is one taken by that animal borne system of your's truly, on the right, next to the scientist I am working with on this deal.

Today is my last day with them, for this project at least, bitter sweet.

SveMed, the animals are still here. There was a fishing incident recently which took some of the fish out of the area. However, and to an extent thankfully, the Tiger sharks are not permanent residents of Aliwal as individuals. There is a presence all year round but there are animals coming and going all year round. Its just a hot bed for Tiger sharks I guess.

Cheers,
Mark.

 

[Anders Yarbrough]

awesome thanks for the info!