Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is in South Africa for three months to swim with killer sharks.

The 43-year-old stunner is in Cape Town with her two-year-old daughter, Nahla, and ex-boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry, to shoot Dark Tide, a thriller in which she plays a scuba diving instructor.

Berry arrived in Cape Town on Monday after nearly 30 hours travelling from Los Angeles via London.

A bystander at Cape Town International Airport, who asked not to be named, saw her arrive, wearing sunglasses, a pair of beige jeans, an open-necked black shirt and black slip-slops.

"She was surrounded by many security guards, and Aubry was just steps behind her clutching baby Nahla," he said.

"Halle Berry is way shorter than I expected her to be, but she really is as beautiful as we see her in movies .

"When I asked her for a picture she turned to me and said, 'I'm really sorry, we're just trying to get to our car.' She seemed really nice about that."

The British Daily Mail newspaper reported that Berry is paying her 33-year-old former lover, from whom she split in April, to baby-sit their child after he refused to be without his daughter for the three months Berry is to be on set.

A source close to the couple told gossip website Radar On-line: "Basically, Halle is going to pay Gabriel to be a kind of full-time nanny and to come to South Africa for the three months she's there."

Berry is taking on her first big role since giving birth in March 2008.

She has reportedly rented a luxury villa in Cape Town.

Those in the know say it is likely that she will be staying on the False Bay coastline, in an area such as St James or Gordon's Bay, rather than on the trendy Atlantic seaboard.

Carole Day, who dealt with a number of famous visitors during the World Cup, said a celebrity like Berry would choose private and secure self-contained accommodation that would come with all the trimmings - car, driver, cook.

"I would imagine it would cost in the region of R200000 to R350000 a month.

"They would want luxury, a view, the space for all staff and themselves . They would want a gym, a heated pool, a professional kitchen ."