Boulders Beach, Cape Town

Dreamy sands and calm waters flanked by ocean-smoothed boulders. “How could the scene be any more idyllic?”, we hear you ask. Well in the case of Boulders Beach, the answer is simple – it’s the resident colony of African Penguins that steal the limelight here. 

Dotting the beach, rocks and dunes that run from Boulders to Foxy Beach, these loveable black and white birds know how to captivate an audience. And, thanks to this being one of the only spots in South Africa in which to see them, they are rarely without one.  

In this mirage-like bay, they may appear to be as common as the dassie, but the African Penguin is a unique and endangered species that has had it pretty tough over the years. During the beginning of the 20th century it is thought that there were around one-and-a-half million of them living on this coastline which fell, quite shockingly, to just two breeding pairs by 1982 due to overfishing, pollution and irresponsible tourism. Today, thanks to a fantastic conservation programme being put in place, this number has been brought back from the brink. It’s now estimated that the Boulders colony consists of nearly 3,000 penguins. Now that’s a fighting spirit to admire. 

Elegant they may not be – they’re known as jackass penguins for the unusual braying sound that they make and the waddle, oh the waddle – but you’ll be hard pushed to not let the word “cute” slip upon sight of them.