Ph..Ph..Photograph a Penguin

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Penguins - cute, flightless birds that live in the Antarctic, right? 

Well, yes, this is correct on the whole. Most people think they are cute, and penguins are definitely flightless, but not all wild penguins live in the cold Antarctic, there are colonies of penguins that live further north, some in South Africa and South America. One of these is the colony of African Penguins at Boulders Beach near Simons Town on the Cape peninsula in South Africa.



On our recent trip to Cape Town we put it on the agenda to go to the Cape of Good Hope and on the way we decided to visit Boulders Beach.  This turned out to be a great choice as we've never seen wild penguins before.  These are wild penguins but they are used to thousands of visitors that travel to Boulders beach so aren't in the slightest bit bothered by the human presence.  To keep humans and penguins apart there is a series of wooden walkways that have been built above the beach.



You arrive and pay the entry fee to the colony,  at 35 Rand for adults, 10 Rand for children - 80 Rand, or £8, in total for the three of us - it is a bit of a bargain. Once you are in you follow the boardwalk to the beach. We arrived at the end of the breeding season and there were plenty of fledglings in evidence around the reserve.  I'm used to seeing penguins on TV that are swimming in frozen seas or standing on frozen wastes and it was a bit surreal to see them amongst the sand dunes or waddling across the white sandy beach in 22 degree sunshine.


The middle of the beach was a crèche of fledgling penguins, guarded by adults while some of the other adults were off fishing for food in the surf.

African penguins are also known as Jackass Penguins and the reason for this name became clear very early on.  The noise is just like a braying donkey and is very loud.


We stayed for a couple of hours before carrying on toward the Cape.  Our visit was time well spent and gave me another card full of images to sift through.  Would I like to go further south and photograph penguins in the colder parts of the world – possibly.  However the Boulders Beach colony beats taking pictures of penguins at London Zoo every time!


MORE PICTURES AVAILABLE ON FLICKR










ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION.
Location: Simon's Town, Cape Town, South Africa

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