Penguins at Boulders Beach - South Africa

Boulders beach is a beautiful nature preserve that is home to hundreds of African Penguins.

Where is Boulders beach?

Boulders beach is located near Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. The beach is part of the Table Mountain national park and sits on the left side of False Bay.

What kind of penguins are they?

The penguins you see at Boulders beach are African Penguins. Which is also known as a Jackass or South Jackass penguin 😆

They get this name because of their distinctive braying which sounds similar to a donkey bray.

African Penguins are the only type of penguin on the African continent. They can be found from Namibia all the way around to Port Elizabeth.

But unfortunately these guys are classified as endangered. It seems the usual suspects of pollution, over fishing and habitat destruction have struck again. However declining breeding pair numbers have also contributed to this classification.

The good news is that Boulders beach is part of the Table Mountain National Park marine protected area. Which means it now provides a clean, safe and protected environment for the penguins.

And hopefully over time their numbers will start to improve.

How much does it cost to see the penguins at Boulders beach?

Entry fee to the board walk is different for locals and visitors to South Africa. But the current price at time of writing was R160 for adults and R80 for children.

Which is a fair price to pay to keep these little guys safe and their home protected. Just make sure you get there early as the line up to get in is huge!

Pro tip: If you book a day trip with a tour company, you get to see alot of Cape Town and get to jump the line at Boulders Beach 😁

When is the best time to see the penguins at Boulders beach?

These cute lil guys are here year round but some months are def better than others.

So they say visiting during their breeding months is the best time of year to visit. Which is between February and May.

They also say late afternoon is the ideal time of day to visit. As that’s when all the penguins come back to their nests.

While in September and October alot of the penguins spend more time out at sea. So, although there are still some penguins around, these are probably the worst months to visit.

When we were there, all the penguins were moulting and growing new feathers!

So they had to stay out of the water as they are not waterproof while they moult.

This process takes around three weeks to grow new feathers. None the less, it was still alot of fun to watch these little guys clumsily walking along the sand.

And some who weren’t moulting were out swimming in the water.

It was so cool to see penguins in the wild. They are super cute!!

Boulders beach is definitely worth checking out when in Cape Town!