On our trip through the peninsula and to the Cape of Good Hope, we also encountered a number of animals.
From the baboons that live around the Cape – and that tourists are constantly warned off not to feed them or approach them as they might become pretty unfriendly when after your food – to the little black zonure lizards that catch the warmth of the sun…
We saw the Dassie, a local mammal that looks like a cross between a guinea pig and a squirrel, and went to an ostrich farm.
The highlight of the day were the African Penguins though, that live only in the coastal waters of South Africa and Namibia.
We went to see their colony at Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town, where you can approach them on a board walk, have them walk with you on the walkway, or even swim with them (the waters there are warm, thanks to the influence of the Indian ocean currents.)
Apparently they let you get as close as a meter… after that, they might bite.
They are endangered now, their numbers down to a mere 10% of what they were at the start of the 20th century, and are a hot candidate for extinction within the next 20 years.
They are also nicknamed ‘Jackass Penguin’, as they make a sound not unlike a donkey!
I tried to capture the sound on video. Watch: