Boulders Beach Penguin Sanctuary

Boulders is a cove of round granite boulders near Simon's Town where a colony of African penguins nests right at the edge of the sea. You watch them from raised boardwalks at Foxy Beach, close enough to see them preen and burrow but kept back from the birds themselves. You cannot swim with the penguins. The colony is protected and has its own stretch of beach, and while the neighboring cove lets people swim, the penguins keep their side.

The colony is part of Table Mountain National Park and started small. A couple of breeding pairs settled here in the early 1980s, and the group has grown into a few thousand birds. African penguins are endangered, and the old name, jackass penguin, comes from the braying, donkey-like call you hear across the colony. There is a park entry fee, and the boardwalks are open through the day.

We came by Uber from the city, which worked fine, though the driver took the winding mountain passes at full speed. It is a long way south down the peninsula, so build in the drive. We watched the penguins and had lunch nearby, an easy stop to pair with the rest of the Cape Town peninsula.