A humpback whale seems to be attempting to fly out of the water, flapping its (relatively) tiny flippers desperately as it leaps out of the water in Port St. Johns, South Africa.

Of course, it doesn’t succeed – but the up-close shot of the leaping beast is a very unique image, says marine tour guide Steven Benjamin.

It’s extremely rare to even see a humpback whale so clearly, and so close, says the 31-year-old guide who captured the picture in June 2013.

The mystery of why whales jump – or ‘breach’ –  is still not fully understood. Humpbacks are among the most prolific breachers, and one theory suggests that the huge splashes could be a way of communicating with other whales.

Benjamin says that he captured the astonishing shot by chance while documenting a mass migration of whales from the coast of South Africa to the warmer waters of Mozambique and Madagascar.

/metro.co.uk/