If I Were Going...: Africa: Boulders Beach

This is so cool!

Our next stop was to Boulders Beach, home of a colony of African Penguins.

Our route

Boulders Beach, which is actually part of Table Mountain National Park, is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between giant 540-million-year-old granite boulders. It is located in the Cape Peninsula, near Simon's Town towards Cape Point.

This is why you go

The African Penguins, which settled there in 1982, are only found on the coastlines of Southern Africa in South Africa and Namibia. Once extremely numerous, they are now on the verge of extinction.

They weren't shy

The beach is in the midst of a residential area (in fact, we had to walk past some homes and shops to get to the beach) and is one of the few sites where African Penguins “can be observed at close range.”

Indeed, they are at really close range and they are everywhere.

From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the colony has grown to about 3,000 birds in recent years.

This is partly due to the reduction in commercial trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of pilchards and anchovy, which form part of the Penguins' diet.

Coming out of the ocean

The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the Penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where boardwalks go within a few feet of the birds.

I had thought we were at Boulders, but I think we were actually at Foxy because we did walk the boardwalks.

It is also a popular swimming beach, although people are restricted to beaches adjacent to the Penguin colony. It was pretty chilly when we went, so we saw no swimmers.

With all the Penguins about, I think the beach might be a little nasty. I am not sure that I would want to swim there.

But, who cares? There are Penguins. Lots and lots of penguins.

Solitary Penguins

Small groups of Penguins

Baby Penguins

Running Penguins

Walking Penguins

Penguin eggs

Swimming Penguins

Penguin pairs

Juvenile Penguins

Wet Penguins

Dry Penguins

Dancing Penguins

And large groups of Penguins

The African Penguin was formerly called the Jackass Penguin -- not for its behavior, but for the donkey-like braying noise it makes.

It is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for swimming and diving.

Cute face

Adults weigh on average 5-8 lbs. and are 24-28 inches tall. Males are larger than the females and have larger beaks.

Their black and white coloring is a vital form of camouflage called countershading -- white for underwater predators looking upwards and black for predators looking down onto the dark water.

A pink gland above their eyes helps them to cope with changing temperatures – when the weather gets hot, the body sends more blood to these glands to be cooled by the air surrounding it, thus cooling the Penguin's body.

The African Penguin breeds in colonies and pairs return to the same site each year. They lay two eggs either in burrows dug in guano or scrapes in the sand under boulders or bushes.

Both parents participate in incubation for about 40 days. At least one parent guards the chicks until about 30 days, when the chick joins up with other chicks and both parents head out to sea to forage each day.

When penguins molt, they are unable to forage until their new feathers become waterproof, so they fast for the entire molting period, which takes about 20 days.

Losing baby fluff

African Penguins forage in the open sea, where they pursue fish, squid and small crustaceans.

Predators in the ocean include sharks, Cape Fur Seals and, on occasion, Orcas. Land-based enemies include Mongooses, small cats, Leopards and Kelp Gull, which steal eggs and newborn chicks.

Good reason to be protective

As recently as the mid-20th century, Penguin eggs were considered a delicacy and were collected for sale. The practice of smashing eggs found a few days prior to gathering to ensure that only fresh ones were sold led to a drastic decline of the Penguin population around the Cape coast.

To make things worse, guano was removed from rookeries to use as fertilizer, eliminating burrowing material and, thus, reducing the number of chicks.

Penguins are susceptible to pollution by petrochemicals from spills, shipwrecks and cleaning of tankers while at sea.

To see a video of Boulders Beach, click here.

We also saw a bunch of other things ...

A large number of Cape Lappet Moth Caterpillars

A beautiful Cape White-Eye (wonder where it got its name?)

A couple of Cape Wagtails

It soon became a joke that everything is named Cape Whatever

More Red-Winged Starlings

And, a Hinged Tortoise

I could have stayed there all day, watching the birds (and, maybe I could have gotten a picture of an African Black Oystercatcher, which I managed to miss even though it was right in front of me) ... and the Penguins …