What are penguins doing in Africa?

Flicking through pictures of your holiday in South Africa with friends is good fun. They will be jealous, for sure, but wait ‘till the get to the pictures of Boulders Beach. Look at their faces! “Say what?!? What are those penguins doing in flipping Africa?” It’s about time come2capetown.com set something straight.

Yes, there are penguins in South Africa. And no they aren’t kept here against their own will. They’re not called African Penguins for nothing, you know. But the amazed look on your face when you see the birds isn’t really surprising, though. Chris Clift (26) gets them every day. He was pretty shocked himself when he came to Cape Town for the first time, five years ago. No he’s working at the Boulders Beach. “It’s all the fault of TV”, he thinks. “If you see those nature programs they always show you penguins waddling on the ice. That’s the picture that sticks into people’s heads. Hey, these guys won’t even survive on Antarctica! There aren’t called African Penguins for nothing.”
The first two penguins came to Boulders in 1982. “It was a couple who just stranded here. ‘Van the Penguinman’ took care of them. He’s a local who’s been looking after the penguins, and he’s still around!” Two more penguins came in 1984 and the breeding started. Now there are about 3.500 penguins around the small beach. “But that’s not all from breeding”, Chris corrects. “Actually, the majority of these guys are immigrants.”

Urban penguins
Over the years, the birds got used to humans. And they actually turn out to be quite photogenic. Some of them are just right on posers! But they some times try to escape. “We can’t fence to sea, so some of the animals get on land at the other side and walk down to Simon’s Town”, Chris says. “Really, I don’t know what they are looking for there, but some of the birds prefer a more urbanized area. Probably ‘cause they are used to humans.”

One of the penguins tried to escape when Chris showed us around. “O. Got to take care of this fellow first!” Chris runs off, but two other penguins alarm their friend and the bird hides underneath a thorny bush. “Ach, I will take care of him later…”

Poachers and drunken guys
Boulders Beach is a favorite amongst tourist. 520.000 people visited the nature reserve in 2003. But Chris doesn’t always get the good guys. “I’m a law enforcer as well, so I can take care of poachers and drunken guys that think they can touch a penguin. Sometimes people even try to get into the park for free, well, they’ll will meet a side of me that isn’t as nice.”

The worst nightmare Chris has, is that one day when he wakes up, all the birds are gone. “But I don’t think that’ll ever happen, not in a couple of years at least.” Some scientists do say that the water level will go up, and in fifty years all of the Cape Flats, Boulders Beach, Fish Hoek and the region will be gone. “I don’t know. The world chances so quickly these days, you just never know. But, off course, I hope this place will be around for ever. Let’s just see what happens.”