Romance

African Penguin – Boulders Beach – Simons Town, Cape Town
Classification: Spheniscus Demersus
Image Name: Romance

At Boulders Beach in Cape Town, the air carries a salty tang softened by the rhythmic to and frow of the rising tide. Between the granite outcrops towering above sea and sand a scatter of black and white figures shuffle across pale sand – African Penguins, South Africa’s only native penguin and one of the rarest birds in the world.

It is here that the first few pairs arrived some two decades ago, in the early 80’s, settling in the granite embrace of this quiet cove.

From that humble beginning thousands followed from nearby islands until the colony became one of the most important refuges for the species. Today less than a thousand pairs still breed here, facing multiple threats from human related fishing activities, oil spills and predation.

Watching them form close quarters the statistics melt away and it’s easy to forget the threats they face as one simply marvels at their presence.

The intimacy of Boulders Beach also make the stakes clear, these penguins live at the knife edge of survival, yet continue to raise their young beneath the same sun and surf that warms the people that come to watch.