South African Penguins

For a short time our family lived in Simon's Town, a charming seaside village on the Atlantic ocean about 45 minutes from Cape Town. We stayed in a hotel apartment (Dick and I and four of our children) and enjoyed the access to many sightseeing opportunities in the Western Cape.

One delightful surprise was just a few miles down the road from our hotel. Boulder's Beach is a swimming beach with unlikely swimming companions -- penguins! Formerly named Jackass Penguins (because of their braying) they are now named South African Penguins. At the time that we were living in Simon's Town (1998) the penguins just hung out at the beach and in the water, with no barrier between the swimmers and the penguins. As a matter of fact, you could swim with the penguins. Boulder's Beach is named appropriately because there are many large boulders along the beach and out in the water. Penguins sunned themselves on the boulders, swam in the calm waters and waddled back and forth along the beach. Since penguins moult, those in that process just stood still and looked raggedy. Penguin-watching is a great pastime, and it was fun to see mother penguins feeding their young.

As we have returned to South Africa many times since 1998, we always visit our friends the penguins.  However in the intervening years an elaborate wooden walkway has been built to keep the penguins sanctuary separate from the many visitors that now come to view the birds. There is an information center with maps and statistics about this penguin colony.