Penguin Watching - Simon's Town

Simon’s Town is a small, pretty town which rich in historical significance. It was founded in 1743 by the first governor of the Cape Town, Simon van der Stel and named after him. After the British had taken over the Cape Town in 1806, the town became a base of the Royal Navy. In 1957 it became a South African navy base. And now its also serves as a home of African penguins.

We had our lunch at main road of Simon’s Town first before heading to watch the penguins. African penguin or so-called Jackass penguins are the only species of penguin that colonise on the African continent. They being called Jackass is because of the donkey-like braying sounds they make when on land. However these birds have now been named "African" penguins because they are different in their appearance and behavior to the original Jackass penguin which is to be found in South America. They can be distinguished by a black curve of feathers which spans their upper body. The African penguin is one of the seventeen species of penguin in the world.

These penguins are very tame and quite friendly with humans, but they don't want to be touched. Tour guide told us they will happily bask in the sun between people lying on the beach and can splash together in the clear and shallow waters of the bay together with humans. Penguins cannot fly, at least not through the air. Some would say that they can fly through water. African penguins are excellent divers: they can dive to depths of 1000m and remain underwater for up to 20 minutes!
All the cute cute penguins



Who is cuter? Me or the penguins? :p