“Imagine penguins and sea leopards outlasting the whole works. Well, probably they deserve to. Especially penguins. I don't think they ever hurt anybody.”
― William Brinkley, The Last Ship
We are getting closer to our final stop in Africa, Cape Town. Here in Betty's Bay we stopped to see a breeding colony of African or Cape penguins.
The story here is the same we have heard before. There used to be millions of these birds. Their eggs were considered a delicacy. We nearly wiped out the entire population. Oil spills and environmental pollution are also huge hazards to them. The are protected now and making a comeback.
This colony of around 2,000 pairs is one of the largest in Africa. They mate for life and now their main threats are Sea lions and sharks.
As you might imagine, they are impossibly cute and we had the chance to get very close to them. As part of there life cycle they will occasionally molt there feathers and grow a new set. According to the guide book they grow quite irritable during this time. We did not touch them of course, but we were warned they bite. I am just trying to imagine going to the ER to be treated for a penguin bite
The morning was beautiful. Here are a number of pictures from the day.
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