A wildlife photographer had a terrifying yet rare experience when he was nearly swallowed by a whale.
During this unique moment, wildlife photographer Rainer Schimpf was off the coast of South Africa capturing the phenomenon of the “sardine run”, where deep-sea predators herd sardines into a tight ball to “feast”.
It was February 2019. While diving to film, Rainer was unexpectedly swallowed by a Bryde’s whale (which averages 13-15 meters in length). Rainer’s wife and another photographer on the boat witnessed this astonishing event.
The whale swallowed Rainer.
According to Rainer, he only felt pressure around his waist and immediately realized what was happening. However, just as he understood the situation, he found himself completely inside the whale’s mouth, surrounded by darkness. It seemed that the whale had accidentally engulfed this photographer while it was enjoying the sardine school.
He recounted: “It took less than two seconds. In those two seconds, the first thing I noticed was something grabbing me, pushing my hips together. I could feel the pressure and immediately knew it was a whale.
My second thought was that it clearly couldn’t swallow me because the whale’s throat isn’t big enough to swallow a human. My next thought was that it might dive down with me.
I held my breath and prepared myself; that was all I could do. You can’t fight a 15-ton animal. I just tried to stay calm and not panic. Thankfully, it worked, and it spat me out.”
When Rainer got home and regained his composure, he realized he was completely intact and had not a scratch on him. Clearly, the biggest concern during the incident was that the whale could dive and drown Rainer, but fortunately, it quickly realized its mistake. After all, the primary diet of Bryde’s whales consists of smaller fish and cephalopods, not humans.
Rainer had a “hair-raising” experience without a scratch.
After this rare incident, Rainer swam back to the boat to check in with his colleagues. When he discovered he wasn’t seriously injured and was still buzzing from adrenaline, he jumped back into the ocean.
Photographer Rainer specializes in capturing orca whales and their hunting behavior. Despite his near-death experience, he continues to dive and remains unfazed when recounting the event, even joking that he was lucky it wasn’t a shark.
Another man had a similarly rare experience. Fisherman Michael Packard was swallowed by a whale off the coast of the United States. Like Rainer, Michael had no choice but to hope the whale would spit him out, and fortunately, it did.
