Meet the black and white beauties-Penguins in South Africa! Elsie Gabriel

Meet the black and white beauties-Penguins in South Africa!

Elsie Gabriel

Being a literary buff from West Bengal I took pride in not only reading but also trying to experience what I read. Over the years I found that travel added to my  years of reading and reading added depth to my travels.Therefore I would like to share this one travel experience which changed my life.

It’s the most perfect destination in South Africa for your family  to visit other families-only, this time it’s the Penguin families. All hurdled in groups, baby ones, teens and grown ups , they are all there in attendance for you to greet them and meet them. It is a ‘AHA ‘  once in a life time moment which leaves you gaping while you are overwhelmed by the sight of beautiful white beaches filled with black and white creatures, a true sight to behold!

I couldn’t control myself watching them in awe and kept capturing them on my camera from all angles. The fat one’s posed and relented, maybe because they were lazy on a sunny afternoon but the young chicks were shy and made a hurry for cover. Believe me, the sight will leave your children filled with memories with the real pictures of one of Gods most beautiful creatures.

While in Cape Town, do not forget to ask the local guides about the details and whereabouts of these penguin families if you have chosen a self-drive trip. We of course had the luxury of a tour guide cum chauffer all in one to drive us around and hep show off the southern most tipoff Africa in all it’s wonders.  You can not miss it for the world. It is not far at all.  Boulders Beach is located a few kilometers south of Simon’s Town and not far from Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a popular tourist spot mainly because of this colony of African Penguins that have settled there. Another attraction is the fact that the sheltered area is made up of small coves with white sandy beaches and calm shallow waters. Swimmers can actually enjoy the calm waters right alongside the penguin colony. We did not venture into the water for two reasons, Sheer respect for the frightened Penguins and also because the waters were freezing cold during the summer vacations in May, so if you ever go at all, choose the ‘Diwali’; or ‘Winter ‘Vacations to swim with the black and white birds. Boulders Beach is one of the only places in the world where you can swim with the penguins.

While the penguins are generally not perturbed by people, swimmers should avoid harassing them or getting too close as their beaks are sharp and they will peck or bite if they feel threatened. If you’re not swimming, penguin viewing at Boulders Beach is also easily accessible via the boardwalks that traverse the beaches. You can also hear them braying and  screeching hoarsely to your amazement. Thats why theses Penguins were previously called Jackass penguins because their raucous cry resembles the sound of a tortured donkey, these flightless birds have not always had a good relationship with people .To spend the day with them is awesome where you learn that man and animal can live peacefully, conservation in South Africa takes over completely to save guard these tiny penguins. The story of the African penguins at Boulders Beach is one of remarkable urban colonisation, but the species as a whole faces many threats and these aquatic flightless birds are listed as endangered. Climate change has affected fish stocks, and increased severe weather incidences have depleted penguin chick numbers.  

We must spread the word that these are very rare creatures and must be saved before they get extinct. Like their less fortunate cousins, the flightless dodos that were hunted to extinction on Mauritius  but penguins can swim, so hopefully they live survive to live on not only in the heart of South Africa but in your kids hearts . Whenever I visit Mauritius I only see the Dodo’s on stamps and little statues only to my dismay. So cherish the Penguins and their habitat is my message to you as I write this. Think about it, if you ever plan a trip educate and teach your children and fill them with memories of little penguins which they will cherish for a life time and pass on may be to their next generation too.

Boulders beach in South Africa ..what a wonderful gift of nature to man!

A Western Cape holiday experience is like no other. Its spectacular beauty is unique as is the huge range of fun and varied activities on offer. Of course you can drive on to see the Congo caves and Ostrich farms nearby too.

How to get there –You can fly directly to Capetown in South Africa! Boulders Beach is located in Simon's Town, just over the hilly peninsula from Cape Town. It's easily accessible by bus, car, taxi or train.

Best time to visit -In January the juvenile penguins are moulting on the beach and adults are feeding-up for the breeding season, which lasts from February to August. Penguins feed at sea for much of September and October so the number of birds on the beach is lower.

Where to stay-The Cape Town area, including nearby Simon's Town and Fishhoek, has a wide variety of accommodation available from budget to luxury options.

The beach turns me on, anywhere, anytime!

The beach turns me on, anywhere, anytime! Elsie Gabriel.

I simply love the beach! I love swimming in the ocean; I love the smell of the salt in the air and the rolling, rhythmic sound of waves.
I simply am a backpack babe. An avid  traveler since childhood, with a passion for discovering insights into various cultures and social traits that form the very basis of the social fabric of life, the outdoors highly interest me.
 My attachments and tryst with waterholes, lakes, beaches and rivers have taken me to explore not only the Powai Lake which I live near here in Mumbai but  also the Hoover Dam in Las Vegas, Lakes in LA, Malaysia, HongKong. Mauritius, Swizterland, Holland, Nepal, Lakshwadeep, Bali and France besides numerous other water spots of the world.
I d love to share of my best experiences with some of the worlds greatest sun kissed beaches. My first experience was with the Puri beach closer to home in the Bay of Bengal, way back 30 years ago. As a child in total innocence I would let the waves envelope me, take me away and throw me back on it’s soft sand. Once I almost got swallowed I remember, by a strong current but it didn’t matter then, it was just for a brief few moments, how I had fought back and landed back on the beach as the waves came back in full swing with its usual high tide during noon. Of course I didn’t know or care about the high tide timings or low tide ebbs, but these are memories of my first innocent ‘touch and go’ love of the oceans.
I remember going back to Orissa to see the Chilka lake, the worlds largest lagoon, full of dolphins and various species of birds….as a teen later on too after high school and then after the vacations I had come back home to Mother, baked, black as a queen of spades! I refused to believe I looked ugly! But Mother was lashing out, splashing my face with turmeric and ripened dry gourd scrubbers. Gosh I kept wondering what all the fuss was about, It was only a tan, that would take ages to go away she said!For the love of the sea, I was so sun kissed and blatantly at bliss with my new escapade with the ocean, yet again…..we weren’t brought up with sun screen lotions nor fancy hats to the beach trip notes……  so I didn’t care what the beach did to me…I was already in love……..I had enjoyed pulling the hunchback horse shoe crabs from their race into their holes in the sand and loved to bring in the nets with the fisher folks and curiously simply watch….the rare rich wealth of slithering silvery catch of the sea…..  

Of course in Malaysia, I simply loved Lankawi, full of birds and frogs and fish swimming around the mangroves which twined themselves with the ocean waves, not letting go ..like huge walking legs begging for existence…..to my own amazement I simply dived in…..shorts and all, I hadn’t planned on swimming just cruising…but none the less…swimming among the mangroves believe me is an ethereal experience only a budding environmentalist like me would know,,…no silvery sand, no fancy umbrellas around, just me ,the little shrimps and the frogs and the maze of gigantic roots…..I was one with the ocean……..
The aquarium at home has leftovers of my beach escapades like little broken old corals, shells, sand stones…..my world of ocean memories in my own sitting room mind you…………………
The Pacific Ocean offered another delight altogether! In, Bali I took off to Lambok, to the Turtle island…..on a  beautiful little plane…..another sublime experience swimming and pampering the rehabilitated marine turtles…..You have to feel them to know that the Ocean is mighty and has so much to offer…the ocean never fails to surprise me..move me… excite me….see what I mean……
Of course there are numerous dates with the beaches which I treasure as I grow and live off memories fondly of my beach experiences…enriching myself and being one with water …..I could go on and on….wait, here’s another one….in Mauritius…..I went swimming at ‘Flic en flac’ which is found on the west coast of Mauritius, Flic en flac derives its name from an old Dutch phrase that literally means 'free and flat land' and is one of the best beaches of the western coast.
I was doing my usual nose dives and playful underwater stunts when I heard the fisherfolks speaking in Bhojpuri…a colloquial hindi dialect… …..God …I took off too…. in the same dialect…’Kaisen bha shabh koi…angreji naikhe awat…?”..and then it was cheers to a new found friendship on the beach…..made friends instantly with them,they later took us to their home for lunch….of course we heard their 3 hours non stop history about the sugarcane farmers coming in from Bihar and UP from India to set up the sugar industry and how they mingled with the french and ultimately…..grew to be Mauritius in culture and a nation……..
The beach brought me back home on its Mauritius shores ,imagine….
How deeply you fall in love is ‘ to each his own’ but god am smitten……and can’t wait to see the beach again……although you don’t always have to wader abroad to see one. I went to the Arnala beach on the Maharashtra coastline just last week and it was gorgeous with black sand and swaying palm trees, quite clean mind you.
The beach never fails to mesmerize me, hold me and touch me, satisfy me…….I’ve fallen hard………see you at the beach……