African Penguins

Today, Saturday, November 15, 2014, we traveled to Betty's Bay at Stony Point to visit the African Penguins at Betty's Beach.

Only an hour’s drive from Cape Town, Betty’s Bay is a picturesque seaside village situated along the scenic Clarence Drive Route (R44) between Pringle Bay and Kleinmond. The town is positioned in a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the Kogelberg Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, and bordered by fresh water lakes and the Palmiet River.

The penguin colony at Stony Point is one of four mainland colonies in South Africa and declared a municipal nature reserve in July 2002. Since then this important seabird colony has grown in size due to the breeding of both the endangered penguins and cormorants (a type of seabird). 

The African penguin was once called the Jackass penguin because of the call they make which sounds like a donkey braying. Let me tell you, it sounds JUST like a donkey!!  So cool!!  The first nests in Bettys Bay were found in 1982. Penguins pairs mate for life and both parents contribute to the feeding of the chicks.  

You arrive at a parking lot near the Penguin colony that overlooks the ocean.  The surf was high this day and you could see the surfers out there catching some waves.  They are brave as the water is ice cold and there are huge rocks around the bay that could seriously injure/kill you if you were to hit them.

Betty's Bay

Surfer

Off to your right side there is a wooden boardwalk that leads to the penguin colonies.  The penguins are on both sides of the boardwalk.  There were some penguins out near the water sunning themselves and there were some on the opposite side of the boardwalk building nests on the slope of a hill.

Hundreds of penguins

Penguins EVERYWHERE!!  I could not believe how many there were.  This area is estimated to be home to more than 3,500 of them!! 

We also spotted some other creatures there:

Baby Water Mongoose

Cape Lizard

Water Mongoose

After our penguin visit we went to Hermanus for lunch.  Ate at a place called Lemon Butta.  It was excellent food and the best thing is that they have huge glass windows facing the bay.  Hermanus is known for whale watching and they have a town crier that blows his horn when he sees a whale.  During lunch a cow and calf were seen off the coast but I was unable to get a good photo.  All the restaurants I have been to so far in South Africa are on "South African Time".  This lunch took a good 2.5 hours.  Seriously........I am learning patience!

Between yesterday and today, we lost 4 volunteers and gained 4 volunteers so now the new dynamic is 4 Americans,  2 English, 1 Danish, 1 Swedish and 1 German.  The youngest volunteer is 19  years old and the oldest is 58 years old.  

After lunch we arrived back at the volunteer house and just hung out.  Every evening they call or text our house phone and let us know if we are going to be able to go to sea the next day.  Unfortunately we got a call that we would not be going to sea on Sunday.   We had a couple of meetings on Sunday morning instead and then after lunch five of us took a walk to the lighthouse down the coast.  It is a 4 mile trail that runs right along the coastline.  It is so close to us that we can walk to from the volunteer house.  I ran on this trail on my first day here.  I fell on some rocks and skinned my knees which should be no surprise to many of you :)  Seems to be healing just fine despite the lack of a good first aid kit here.  I had to use Murcurochrome which was outlawed in the US due to it's mercury content.  I remember my mom using it on us kids when we were younger.  Yes, I am that old :)

Tomorrow will be sharks for sure or I may go postal on someone!!  More later......


"It's practically impossible to look at a penguin and feel angry"  - Joe Moore