SOUTH AFRICA
Penguins in South Africa? Who knew?
Penguins in Africa? Who knew?
You don't have to embark on an Antarctic expedition to find these tuxedoed charmers on their home turf. Just head for the Boulders section of South Africa's Table Mountain National Park near Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula.
A beach boardwalk there takes you past scores of strolling, preening and lounging African penguins, once known as Jackass penguins for their braying. Decked out in chic black and white, these cute flightless birds, about 2 feet tall, aren't a bit shy, wandering within a few feet of visitors.
If you arrive during nesting season, as we did, you may catch poignant vignettes of parents tending to Junior. Imagine "Malcolm in the Middle" set in Malibu.
Just don't get too close to the wildlife.
"They might look cute and cuddly, but their beaks are as sharp as razors, and if they feel threatened they have no qualms about nipping the odd finger or nose," the park's website warns.
African penguins have reason to feel threatened, or at least vulnerable.
Their population, estimated at 1.5 million a century ago, has fallen to about 10% of that, the park says. Among their foes are oil spills, global warming and predators such as Cape fur seals, Kelp gulls and domestic cats and dogs.
Their habitat ranges from an island off central Namibia to Algoa Bay in South Africa, according to the nonprofit South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. Boulders is home to about 3,000 of them.
In an effort to shield the penguins' eggs from predators and their chicks from heat exhaustion, private donors have bought scores of nesting boxes for the Boulders area. Made of fiberglass, the little domed structures, many of them occupied, dot the dunes.
Admission to Boulders is about $3.50 for adults and $1 for children ages 1 to 11. For more information, visit the websites of the park, www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain and the coastal birds foundation, www.sanccob.co.za.
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