South Africa's sea rescue service has urged swimmers and surfers to be cautious, after a recent spate of great white shark sightings and close encounters -- one of which was captured in some astonishing drone footage.

The incidents were recorded along the Southern Cape and Easter Cape coastline, according to a statement from Sea Rescue South Africa (NSRI), published Tuesday.

These waters, off the city of Cape Town, are known as some of the world's best places to spot the predators, but research shows the sharks' numbers have declined significantly.

However, the past few weeks have seen a large amount of sightings and some close encounters, said NSRI, which released drone footage showing a shark close to a group of surfers in Plettenberg Bay.

The video was short by 14-year old Capetonian, Zack Berman.