Penguins that sound like donkeys
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
257
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Simon's Town,
Western Cape,
South Africa
Friday, September 19, 2008
Fortunately for me (I luuuuuuuuuv penguins), Travis figured everything out. I'm not entirely sure how. Our train journey to Stellenbosch was so successful that we were no longer daunted by the prospect of travelling by train down to Simon's Town, and taking the train around the city is way cheap
1
. We were making ourselves a big day trip, and our first stop was at Muizenberg. We stopped solely to see the beach huts so that Travis could run around and take photos. And when I took the camera away to take my own he couldn't stand still, so you can imagine the excellence of the subject, what with it giving Travis snits. The little huts were really nifty. Look at the photos. While waiting for the train we hopped round the rock pools looking at the animals. I attempted to rescue four sea stars, but I think three of them were already dead. Fish food. The sea stars seem to like the rock pools in particular because they're covered with clams, which is a favored sea star food. (For your information, I am not calling them "starfish" because they are not even a little bit fish - they're echinoderms.) I found some shells, Travis found some brittle stars running around, and just before we left we saw the snails trucking around through the sand. Mobile snails are fun to watch. Then we had to catch the train.
Travis repeatedly told me that the ride to Simon's Town is one of the greatest urban train journeys in the world. I can't think of another urban train journey that's pretty, so I'll go with it. The train literally runs along the shore, and at high tide the water is at the edge of the tracks
2
. If the weather's bad in winter they sometimes have to stop the train because the water splashes over onto the tracks. On a good day you can also see whales from the train, as whales like the southern coast of the country very much. Ours was not a good day for whaling, but all in all a good day. Sitting with your nose plastered to the window does a little something to bring out your childish enthusiasm. At Simon's Town we commenced our walk. Boulders Beach is literally two kilometers from the train station, so don't feel daunted if you look at a map and it looks much further. Basically you walk through town, and the town is yet another quait, colonial, South African village. Behind it rises Table Mountain National Park, which stretches from Table Mountain in the City Bowl all the way to Cape Point at the Cape of Good Hope. Beautiful landscape, the whole area. We very much enjoyed our walk through town, but the impulse buyer in me would have liked it much better if I could have popped into more shops. This is discouraged by Travis since we have no money. Boo. Finally we found a sign that said "Penguin Viewing." There was an arrow, but it was the type of arrow that tells you to walk forward a little farther then turn. This is, in fact, going too far. If you are in this situation, turn where it says to go to the beach. Then, because there are no more signs, you arrive at the beach and see a penguin on the rocks
3
. Ergo, you think you're in the right place, but further exploration yields no more penguins and you didn't have to pay for your entry. You must not be in the correct place. You aren't. We were wandering around in someone's back yard. So the sign that has a penguin on it and an arrow pointing to the right means that you should walk back to the three-way intersection about three meters behind you and follow that road. You are at the wrong beach, even if it does have very large boulders. Finally we found the penguin place. Yay! Here's the tricky part that I didn't even realize until we were back on the train: there are two completely separate sections to Boulders Beach. The first section is the first one you come to. Here, you pay your R25 entry fee and wander around the boardwalks to stare at the little penguins who stare back (they are very curious birds). This is where we went, and it was delightful, except that it got a bit crowded here and there. African penguins are a threatened species, and Boulders Beach is one of two land-based (rather than island-based) colonies, so it's a special spot. The penguins hang out in their nests (which consist of holes they dig in the ground - seeing a penguin sitting in a hole in the ground is inexplicably entertaining) and wander around. Some little babies were moulting, and they looked very goofy, but adorable. We saw two totally different types of penguins and couldn't figure out what the other kind was
4
. Then I read one of the educational signs (duh) and discovered that the other penguins were juvenials called "baby blues" because of their blue-gray feathers. They don't look like an adult penguin until they're about three years old. Life is hard for penguins (though you wouldn't know it to look at them, all lazing around), as they have both land and sea predators. In the water they get chased by seals and other large predatory creatures (but mostly seals), and on land they're pestered by sea gulls and foxes that eat their eggs and infants. Very sad. They are survivors, however, as you can see with your own eyes: we snapped a shot of a one-footed penguin who hobbled all over the beach. We left the beach when we had a half battery on the camera. Wandering back into town we discussed the last part of our plan for the day: a venture to the point. From Simon's Town to the point is a haul, and you need 1) your own car, 2) a rikki taxi, or 3) a bicycle. During our first walk through town we saw a total of zero bicycles, so we had no idea where to find one, and the only rikki we saw was a sad-looking creature outside the train station. Enter the Simon's Town Tourist Information Center, about the only useful information center on this trip. The man at the desk called the rikkis and asked how much it would cost to take one to the point (R160), and if we had asked he would have asked the rikki to pick us up right there
5
. Then we asked him if he knew about bicycles, which he did. They're at Simon's Town Backpackers near the train station, and they cost R100 for the day including a helmet and pump. Now, the story with the point is this: you get to Cape Point however you can manage it. Cable car to the top, photos, photos, see as far south as you possibly can. Then you walk from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope. If this confuses you (as it did me) look at a close-up map and you'll see that the cape has two prongs at the end, hence two capes. Anyway, the walk is 1.5 hours. Then you can leave, having properly completed the scenic tour. Realizing that we had intended to do a day trip in a couple of hours, Travis and I decided to forgo the pleasure and perhaps do it another time. Then we decided that we have no money and it's rather an expensive venture any way you cut it, and we'll just do it when we come back to South Africa (why not? we put off everything else...)
So we made our way back through town to the train station, where a train promptly arrived, and collapsed in our seats to be carried back down the scenic tracks along the coast and into the bosom of the "Mother City." Travis slept nearly the entire ride. It was an exhausting day.
Erin
