I was staying in Cape Town, South Africa and decided to rent a car at the hotel to do a self drive down to the Cape of Good Hope. I heard about this beach you can stop off to walk with penguins in their natural habitat. The place is called Boulder's Beach.
There is a small admission fee of about $8 USD to enter. It's a bargain! This is one of the most unforgettable things you'll do in your life. Walking with African Penguins on their beach.
A close up picture of the little critters:
They were not timid of me at all. I don't mean to say I could go touch one, but you would have to get pretty close to one before it waddled off. These were spectacular to be so close beside.
A game of follow the leader anyone?
The African Penguin grows to only about 28 inches and weighs less than 11 pounds. They are declining in population due to climate changes and the worldwide population is estimated at less than 200,000. This is a 90% decline from the turn of last century.
They eat fish, sardines being a popular meal for these little fellas. I often saw them diving in the water seeking food then returning.
Enjoy some of the photos I took:
I was privileged to have the beach to myself with these beautiful birds of the sea. Another person came along later, but the beach was large enough to provide privacy for many due to the rock formations that provided boxed in private viewing rooms of sort.
You can see the large rock formations present throughout this beach.
These birds loved to stay together!
Very affectionate too, although they refused a kiss from me. Next time I'll bring a can of spicy sardines for them. Then I bet I'll be their best friend!
it was a lot of fun watching them interact with one another and the water.
The beach was very peaceful with no cars driving by and no houses near the beach. South Africa has a lot of open, undeveloped areas. It is the most stunning country I have visited. I would love to go back and spend more time there, but, I outlined the dangers of South Africa in this three part series starting here:
But it's really part 2 of that series that makes me want to stay away.
I think he wanted me to tickle his belly:
I stayed here for about an hour and a half. Much longer than I would normally stay in one location looking at the same animals. But I knew I was in a special place on this earth. I mean, where else can you experience a private up close adventure with these wonderful birds?
This ranks in the top three of my animal adventures along with Kruger Park (another one in South Africa) and my Tiger Encounter:
I still need to post my Kruger adventures. Lots to tell there. I'll get to it one day. Too many stories and so little time. I hope I live long enough and my memory holds out.
This is really cool. I think penguins are a very interesting animal. I have watched the March of the Penguins several times and it never gets old. Thanks for sharing. 🙏
Ever since I was young watching the Penguin on Batman I always loved those birds. The real ones are truly more cool. They act as if they don't have a care in the world. I looked back at the Rhino video what a massive animal. Almost looks like there made out of armor.