Cape Peninsula Tour

Yesterday I finished a four day work streak at SANCCOB. On Wednesday I worked with the oily penguins in Pen C with another volunteer which was fairly easy because there were only seven penguins and it was wash day which meant we weren't able to give fluids or feed them for a few hours while they were being washed. It's always nice to see the difference it makes after the penguins have the oil washed off. Thursday I worked in Pen 3 which started off as a relatively easy day because there were two volunteers and 17 penguins. On Thursday they were checking the status of the penguins and upgrading the ones that were healthy and strong to 20 minute swimmers. By the end of the day we had 38 penguins!! That meant lots more penguins to feed and give fluids and formula to. Friday I was assigned to general duty which involved doing multiple loads of laundry, preparing hundreds of syringes, washing buckets and other random tasks that needed to be done around the centre. Yesterday I was once again assigned to Pen 3 with the 38 penguins, many of whom are very strong, fast and not so friendly. This week at work I played around with my waterproof camera and got some great shots of the penguins enjoying their swims in the pool. Some of the penguins were quite curious and were getting a little too close to the camera - maybe they thought it was a fish!

Today I went on a tour of the cape peninsula with AVIVA with our wonderful tour guide Ursula. We left early this morning with our first stop being Hout Bay where we boarded a boat to have a look at seal island. The small island is home to over 1500 cape fur seals. Many of them looked comfortable laying on the rocks, soaking up the sun, while others enjoyed playing around in the ocean.

After returning from our quick boat ride, we drove along the mountainside of Chapman's Peak where we stopped for some photos and to take in the view of the ocean and Hout Bay. We continued on to Simon's Town which is where the South African navy is based. We stopped in Simon's Town for lunch at a beautiful restaurant on the waterfront. After we finished eating we walked to Boulders Beach which is home to an African penguin colony. There were not as many penguins as I had expected, but with the species now being endangered it makes sense that the population has decreased. I was however able to spot a penguin with a pink dot which had been released from SANCCOB so it made me feel proud of the hard work I have been putting in at SANCCOB.

On our way to our next stop we passed by a bunch of cars that were stopped because people wanted to see the baboons that were wandering around. We were warned ahead of time by Ursula to close our windows and lock the doors because baboons are very clever and will open your doors and jump in. Many of the cars that were stopped had baboons walking all over them and some had stolen food and clothing from some of the people. They obviously didn't read warning signs posted everywhere in the area.

After taking some photos of the baboons we continued our drive to Cape Point where if you look in the far distance you can see where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet. After a 15 minute hike we reached the top where we had a stunning view of the ocean and the surrounding area. On the walk down we were encountered by more baboons, this time a family of four. The babies were quite curious and were grabbing onto people's pants and shoes. One man made the mistake of walking past with a bag of chips and had the baboons follow him up the path. The last stop of the tour was to the Cape of Good Hope, the most South-Western point of Africa. After a quick photo opportunity we got back in the van for the drive back to Cape Town.