Skip to content

Strutting Penguin

One of the highlights to my trip to Cape Town in South Africa was a visit to Simon’s Town and specifically to Boulders Beach to see the African Penguin. Simon’s Town is located about 30 miles south of Cape Town and is a very popular tourist destination. The drive there is very picturesque and the penguin area is filled with photography opportunities. People are not allowed on the beach and must stay on the manmade walkways. As a result, it was hard to get down to eye level with these wonderful creatures but one could literally reach out and pet them (not recommended as they do bite).

Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which its name originated. Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where the African Penguin can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment. From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3,000 birds in recent years. This is partly due to the reduction in commercial trawling in the bay which has increased the supply of pilchards and anchovy, which form part of the penguins’ diet. I highly recommend a visit to this area if you happen to visit Cape Town.

Penguin - Simon's Town SA
Penguin – Simon’s Town SA

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/1000th of a second and the ISO set at 250. This is a single image processed in Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro.

This image is best viewed large. Click on the image to enlarge it. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.

T. Kahler Photography
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography

You can also follow my work on Google+ and Facebook.

PS: Please don’t respond to this message as it will not reach me. Either post a comment or forward your response to my email address (terry@tkahler.com).

2 thoughts on “Strutting Penguin”

Please share your thoughts or comments:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.