An Amazing Penguin Adventure With Kids At South Africa’s Boulders Beach
Cape Town is a city filled with things to see and do. Its location in the Cape Floral Region means there’s tons of beautiful flowers and trees to admire, and its history as Nelson Mandela’s hometown gives it historic importance. But even with all that going for it, when we decided to visit there was one activity that topped our list of things that we just had to do.
Visit the Boulders Beach penguins!
Boulders Beach is one of only two African penguin colonies located on the South African mainland, and the easiest place to visit if you’re interested in getting up close with these endangered penguins. Its beautiful waters combined with the unique experience of seeing wild penguins up close easily makes Boulders Beach one of the best things to do in Cape Town and one of my favorite animal experiences in South Africa.
Boulders Beach Penguin Colony
Hours: Daily, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Price: R170/adult (about $9.60) or R85/child (about $4.80)
Website: SANParks.org (South Africa National Parks)
Phone: +27(0) 21 786 2329
Directions: Click here for directions
Boulders Beach is located just outside Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula and is part of the Table Mountain National Park protected zone, alongside other major attractions such as the Cape Point and Table Mountain itself.
A look at the African Penguin
The African Penguin is one of the smallest species of penguin, typically only weighing between 4 and 11 pounds and standing just over 2 ft tall. It lives almost exclusively along the southwestern coast of Africa, and can typically only be found on the small islands off the coast. In fact, in all of South Africa, there are only two colonies that live on the mainland!
African penguins look similar to other penguin species, with a black back and a white belly with black spots, but they have a distinctive black stripe around their bellies and a pink gland just above their eye that gets pinker when the penguin is hot.
The African Penguin was declared an endangered species in 2005 following a century of rapid population declines due to the influences of humans on their natural habitats and decreasing food resources due to commercial fishing.
While once there were millions of African penguins across Africa, there are fewer than 200,000 left in the wild today, with fewer than 20,000 breeding pairs. And that number continues to decline.
It is estimated that if their population continues to decrease, African Penguins could become extinct in the wild as early as sometime between 2025 and 2035.
Why it’s essential to show kids endangered species
Places like Boulders Beach are extremely important to global conservation efforts because they offer unique opportunities for getting kids up close to endangered species.
Taking family field trips to see these animals in person is important because it helps kids empathize with their plight, and can help motivate kids to change their lives to help protect their world.
African penguins are just one of the many different endangered animals that you can visit. If you’re interested in finding conservation projects to visit, take a look at some of the other conservation efforts we’ve visited around the world, or find one near you!
Visiting Boulders Beach with kids
While the African Penguin’s numbers are declining around the world, the colony at Boulders Beach continues to grow. When penguins first arrived at the beach in 1983, there was only a single breeding pair. But through rigorous conservation efforts, the Boulders colony has grown into nearly 3,000 birds with around 800 breeding pairs today.
The park features three different viewing boardwalks where you can see the colony from above, as well as a beach surrounded by granite boulders where you can get much closer to them. The penguins are not shy around humans, and you can get quite close to them without a reaction, but you do need to be careful as they have sharp beaks that they aren’t afraid to use if you get too close.
Foxy Beach
Despite the colony’s name, most of the penguins nest at Foxy Beach. That’s where the two main boardwalks lead, giving visitors a great view of the nesting penguins. On our visit, we started there and we all loved getting to see the colony from above. Since we came in late August, we were able to see penguins in a wide variety of stages, from downy chicks to adolescent “baby blues” and black and white adults.
Educational signs lined the boardwalk, providing context for everything we were seeing, which I definitely appreciated, and if you’re interested in learning more about the conservation efforts, be sure to spend some time investigating the Visitor’s Center before moving on to Boulders Beach proper.
Boulders Beach
Boulders Beach is a strip of white sand and brilliant blue water surrounded by the large granite boulders that give the beach its name. During the summer, those boulders break the incoming waves and make Boulders Beach a great beach to take kids swimming. However, we visited at the tail end of winter. I would not suggest swimming there in August.
Even so, we did do a bit of wading to get around the boulders and explore some of the other sandy spots further in. There were far fewer penguins on Boulders Beach than there were on Foxy Beach, but we still managed to find some and got a close-up look.
Even if you aren’t there to swim, the boulders at Boulders Beach provide some fun of their own. We ended up scrabbling over quite a few of them while we explored, and my son especially loved it.
Remember: Penguins are wild animals!
Not only are they endangered animals that are protected by law, but they also have very sharp beaks and aren’t afraid to bite. Always show wild animals respect and give them their space.
It’s a lot easier to get around the boulders during low tide, so if you plan on checking out the areas further in, be sure to check the tide charts before going.
How long do I need at Boulders Beach?
From start to finish, we spent roughly 2 hours between the two beaches, but during the warmer months, it would be pretty easy to spend significantly longer exploring and relaxing on the beach.
How do I get to Boulders Beach?
Boulders beach is easily accessible by car if you want to drive yourself, but there isn’t a ton of parking available up close, especially during the busier season. If you’d like to park close, I’d suggest getting there early and checking the parking lot at the end of Secluse Ave. Alternatively, you can park at the Seaforth Beach parking lot, which is a short walk away from the Visitor’s Center. (Seaforth Beach is also worth checking out if you’re looking for a free beach experience)
At the time of this writing, a 3-day rental on an automatic transmission 4-passenger car is approximately R2,200 or roughly $41 USD per day.
Check out Car Rental Prices in Cape Town
If you’d prefer not to deal with parking at all, Uber is also readily available throughout the entirety of the Cape Town area. Relying solely on Uber is more expensive than getting a rental, but is far more convenient, especially for locations with limited parking.
At the time of this writing, an Uber from Cape Town to Boulders Beach is approximately R360 ($20.50), to give you an idea of the cost. Do note: That price is one way. It would cost that again to get back to Cape Town, making it roughly the same price as renting a car, so long as you are only doing one activity.
Checking out the African penguins at Boulders Beach has been on our list of activities that we’ve wanted to do with our kids for what seems like forever, and it was amazing getting to take a field trip there. It was a fun morning of exploring the beach, climbing over boulders, and checking out endangered penguins. What more could we ask for?
