He was swallowed by a whale and lived to tell it | A …

Rainer Schimpf became for a few seconds a modern version of Jonah, the biblical character crossing the belly of a whale. The 51-year-old German photographer and ecologist took pictures of a school of sardines when a whale swallowed it and sent it back to the sea shortly thereafter. The event was produced in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and the images captured from that moment have gone around the world.

"I had started shooting at dolphins, sharks, gannets, penguins and cormorants who were feeding on sardines when, coming from below, a Bryde's whale appeared suddenly", told about his experience. Bryde's whale is 15 meters long and weighs more than 20 tons.

"I felt pressure around my waist and I immediately knew what was going on," he continued. "It was only a few seconds, until the whale realized its mistake and opened its mouth to spit." The photographer's wife and a documentary filmmaker were able to record the scene. You see the whale emerging and the diver's legs appearing from his mouth. "I held my breath because I thought it was going to come to the surface at one point," added the survivor. "I felt the pressure disappear and I was able to climb," he added.

The whale that engulfed the photographer is a rare specimen, often fed with crustaceans and small fish. It's not usually easy to find one and photograph it. Schimpf has more than twenty years of experience and also runs a dive tourism agency. "Nothing prepares you to end up in a whale, there is no time to worry," he added.

"It was a very special moment, it was a person watching a whale, something that nobody knew and I'm sure it was a surprise for the whale," the photographer concluded. He made him a celebrity.