Simon's Town and Boulders Beach
A bright and sunny Saturday brought some new friends and me to charming harbor of Simon's Town on the shores of False Bay. While home to the South African Navy, the seaside village is also a short walk to Boulder's Beach, a unique and endangered land-based colony of African Penguins.
The Boulders Penguin Colony is part of the larger Table Mountain National Park, and is a popular tourist destination to see the birds in their natural habitat. Past the ticket booth and turnstile, there are three wooden boardwalks that weave through the dense shrubbery and run alongside the sandy beach. Enormous granite boulders flank the coastline which give the iconic beach it's name.
When visiting parks like Boulders, it's important to draw attention to the devastating environmental impacts which significantly threaten various animal habitats. In 2010, the African Penguin was reclassified from a Vulnerable to an Endangered status. The first the first full census on the African Penguin was conducted in 1956 and counted approximately 150,000 breeding pairs. Tragically, there were only 26,000 breeding pairs left in the world by 2009. These numbers indicate a loss of more than 80% of breeding pairs in just over 50 years. The Boulders Penguin Colony was established in 1983, and even though the species is protected, the numbers continue to decline. In 2011, the park estimated 2,100 birds in the colony, a figure which has remained steady. However, the global decline of the penguin, including the colony at Boulders, is the suspected result of habitat destruction, effects of oil spills and other marine pollution, impacts of global warming on fish stocks and fish movement, overfishing, irresponsible tourism activities, and the domestic of other pets and animals.
Source: South African National Parks
