Facts about Rob Lawrence and African Shark Eco-Charters

African Shark Eco–Charters is the leading great white shark viewing and diving company in False Bay South Africa.

African Shark Eco-Charters is owned by Rob Lawrence. Rob has been working with sharks on a daily basis since 1989 and has specialized in leading and operating shark expeditions and trips since 1996.

African Shark Eco-Charters was the first successful Great White Shark eco-tourism operation at Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa.

Rob is one of the most experienced field persons involved in all areas of the white shark cage diving and viewing industry in South Africa, having been present and actively involved since the inception of the industry and the first successfully run shark cage diving operation.

Rob’s family history in False Bay goes back several generations. He has a long history dating back to 1989 when he started out as a volunteer in the industry and later started his own business in a totally new area, namely False Bay.

African Shark Eco-Charters started out very small in 1996 and only ran a few trips a year, the reason for this was that we were learning all the time about our new unique area as well as the fact that we did not want to open it up to exploitation. This has happened at other shark site around the country.

For this reason I believe that Seal Island False Bay is the best place on the planet to see white shark predatory behaviour. Rob has host several international film crews every year and to date have made over 35 international documentaries. He has worked with film crews such as the BBC Natural History unit, National Geographic, Animal Planet, The discovery Channel, Galatee (The film company that made the March of the Penguins), and many more.

According to Rodney Fox, Peter Benchley and Rocky Strong as well as the whole National Geographic film crew who were out with us in 1999 they believe it to be the best place on the planet to see natural predator prey interaction as well as other unique behaviour such as breaching. We help produced and stared in “Air Jaws” the discovery channels most successful shark show ever. Since then the Discovery Channel has completed filming on “Air Jaws II” with Rob.

The area we work is Seal Island False Bay home to the great white breaching shark and various other marine animals. The island is home to 64,000 cape fur seals and during the trip we get to see whales and dolphins on route to and from the island on a regular basis. We are at present one of two active operators in the area so this allows us to observer these magnificent predators in a very natural state