Jackass Penguins

Not the first to dream of flight

Penguins are of course high on the list of charismatic megafauna.

Despite that they are uber-cute, not all that shy and not all that quick on land, it was really difficult to get an interesting photo! We visited Boulders Beach three times and I must have 300 pictures of penguins....close up, far away, in little rows, in cute little bunches, snuggling together, hopping from rock to rock, waddling up the beach, scrambling down the boulders into the water, trying to sneak into the nearby bistro, parading down the street, etc.  These were the only keepers.  

This colony numbers around 1000 penguins; they are one of 16 penguin species.  This species has colonies at 28 sites, mostly offshore islands.  The Boulders Beach colony is one of only 3 mainland colonies.  The funny thing is that the Penguins themselves decided to settle here in Simon's Town in the 1980s at a public swimming beach in a suburban setting.