Having Fun with African Penguins at Boulders Beach, Cape Town

These charismatic birds were a treat to observe. South African National Parks have constructed a wonderful set of boardwalks and viewing platforms, allowing up close and personal encounters with the penguins. Read more on this wonderful site here.

Delighted with the endless photo opportunities on a recent beautiful autumn morning, I just had to share my experience. I discovered that one can even hang out with the penguins right on the beach – local families did!  Children swam and built sandcastles oblivious to the close proximity of the penguins as they waddled past going off to sea in their little hunting groups.
Once I had had my fill of taking images (guessing around 400+), I still could not drag myself away and simply observed the goings on. By now other tourists were arriving on the beach and I spent a quiet few moments, just watching their reaction on seeing the penguins.  As they walked down the boardwalk closer to the breeding colony, suddenly their faces lit up with sheer emotion and cries of delight as they spotted the penguins, so close at times one can almost reach out and touch them.

A local warden told me that it was currently their breeding season, quite clearly the adult males all changed into their smart ‘tuxedo’ plumage all vying and honking to attract a mate. It is not a coincidence that this penguin species was called jackass at a time, as their calls sound just like a braying donkey.

Chicks of various ages peaked out from beneath their parents (both male and females share incubation duty). Recently layed eggs were also seen, and there was much activity as individuals arrive at the colony with nesting material.

I was also very saddened to hear that these comical birds are today a vulnerable species. Of the 1.5 million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th century! The uncontrolled harvesting of penguin eggs (as a source of food), and guano scraping, nearly drove the species to extinction.  Current threats that these birds have to deal with are overfishing leading to reduced numbers of anchovies and pilchards which are their preferred food source and oil spills. Luckily organizations like SANCCOB have done some amazing work in the rescue and rehabilitation of these birds following oil spills. You can even ‘adopt’ a penguin through them which assists greatly with funding their valuable work.