Penguins at Boulders Beach - a great original beach story by Jaklien on a beach holiday.

Penguins at Boulders Beach
One thing I love about sitting on the beach is people watching. It's is probably my favourite pastime anywhere, but I particularly like it when I am lying on a beach. I can sit and watch people for hours and hours on end. I watch what they do, what they say, what they wear and sometimes what they don't wear. Etc etc.

So I got really excited on a recent trip to South Africa when I found a fantastic beach that put a whole new spin on my favourite sea side activity. I'm talking about Boulders Beach in Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula. The thing that got me all excited about this beach wasn't its location or beauty (although it is very pretty) or the type of people that come here, but this beach is the perfect beach to go penguin watching. It's made up of a few small inlets that are sheltered by massive granite boulders. The beaches in the inlets host a colony of African penguins (Or Spheniscus demersus for the geeks) that settled here in Boulders Bay back in 1982. There were only two couples in the beginning, but now there are around 3000 penguins that call this bay their home.

So what better spot to watch these interesting animals from up close then here in their natural habitat? The funny thing about them is how humanlike they are in their beach behaviour. They laze around on the sand or a comfy rock trying to catch some quality rays. They take a nap, wake up, turn over to get some sun on their backs. And fall asleep again. If they get too hot, they dive into the refreshing ocean water, swim around a bit and trot back to their comfy spot in the sand or on the rock and the whole repertoire is repeated. For lunch they grab some tasty sea food after which they take a little beach siesta. If the lazing and the napping gets a bit monotonous, they go for a waddle around the beach and strut their stuff to impress the opposite sex and sometimes they even engage in some canoodling with their mate. Ok, this might not be so humanlike, I suppose. Although some humans tend to do this as well sometimes, albeit in the dark when no one is watching. But the penguins don't seem too bothered by the busloads of tourists that come here to watch them. Until you get too close or try to touch them. They can get a tat bit aggressive and might try to bite you, but hey, can you blame them? I mean, how would you feel if you were lying on your beach lounger somewhere on an exotic beach and upon opening your eyes there was a giant penguin trying to poke you? I would bite too.

Author : Jaklien