BOULDERS BEACH

Description

Essentials about Boulders Beach in brief

If you like penguins, you should definitely make a detour from Cape Town to Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula, a 45-minute drive away. This is because the so-called Boulders Beach is located in the middle of the town, which is widely known for its colony of spectacled penguins. Boulders Beach owes its name to the many rounded granite rocks that lie on the beach and in the water. Incidentally, the beach is part of Table Mountain National Park.

The penguin colony at Boulders Beach

Spectacled penguins have settled on this stretch of beach since 1982. While there were initially only two pairs, the colony has now grown to about 3,000 animals. Nevertheless, the penguins are on the list of endangered species and are therefore strictly protected. The birds, which weigh about two to four kilograms, have adapted perfectly to the local living conditions at False Bay. The entire beach area is covered by bushes, in which the penguins can hide and build their nests in a protected way.

The park is fenced off to protect the penguins. Within the area, however, wooden walkways have been erected everywhere, so that the cute animals can be observed from an elevated position and often at close range. In the area of the granite rocks you can move freely at Boulders Beach and with a little skill and luck you can approach the animals in the wild (swimming is also allowed there, by the way). The penguins seem to be used to humans and some curious representatives of their species do not shy away from approaching humans up to a few centimeters. Nevertheless, one should refrain from doing so, because after all, firstly, it is the natural habitat of the animals (and not a zoo) and secondly, a penguin bite also really hurts.