Our next stop after Paarl was Simon’s Town, which is located near the Cape of Good Hope. The plan was to take a pelagic trip and find some birds not seen from land. However, Mother Nature and the boat captain decided otherwise. Strong winds, overcast skies, fog, and a light rain would have made for an unpleasant trip.
No trip to Simon’s Town is complete without a visit to Boulder’s Beach, a small oasis along a heavily developed beach, to check out the African Penguins. I think we were there with about 10,000 other people. Well maybe several hundred but it sure seemed busy. We did see a lot of penguins, including some young. Many adults were on shore for their 20+ day feather molt – a period where they live off their stored fat reserves.
We stayed at a place owned by a local birding tour company – Avian Leisure. For 700 Rand per night we got what is essentially a small apartment. The bedroom is separate from the living/kitchen area. The place is large and comfortable. And this place has the most equipped kitchen we’ve had for a self-catering unit to date. The only thing missing is a second frying pan. I would highly recommend this place if you plan to come to Simon’s Town.

While we don’t have a window view from our place (you can rent one that does), this is the view from the garden area.

And in the garden is a Pin-tailed Whydah. This bird has an amazingly long tail and when the wind blows the tail goes every which way. Great bird.
Gotta love penguins. IT WAS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD
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