Boulders Beach and the Penguin Colony

What to expect at Boulders Beach and the Penguin Colony

Boulders is a section of Table Mountain National Park on the False Bay shore just south of Simon's Town, and it is one of the very few places on earth where you can stand a few metres from a breeding colony of African penguins. Two birds arrived from Dyer Island in 1982; the colony has since grown into the low thousands, protected because the species has collapsed by more than ninety per cent over the last century and is now listed as endangered. The setting is a run of enormous rounded granite boulders, part of the same Peninsula pluton that forms the base of Table Mountain and dated at roughly 540 million years, which shelter a series of small white coves from the swell. SANParks manages the site with a boardwalk system at Foxy Beach and a separate gated swimming beach at Boulders itself.

There are two entrances and they do different things. The Foxy Beach entrance on Kleintuin Road leads onto a raised timber boardwalk that runs above the nesting area and out to viewing decks directly over the sand, where penguins bray, moult, squabble and shuffle between burrows; this is where the photographs come from and it is fully accessible. The Boulders Beach entrance on Bellevue Road leads down a path and steps to the swimming cove, where the water is calm, shallow and sheltered by the boulders, and where penguins occasionally paddle past bathers. You are not allowed to touch, feed or chase the birds, and they bite hard. Interpretive panels along the boardwalk explain breeding, moulting and the collapse of the sardine and anchovy stocks the colony depends on.

Plan a two to three hour visit and do both gates rather than one, since the ticket covers the site. Come early, because the small car parks fill and the boardwalk becomes a slow shuffle by mid-morning in season. Wear shoes you can walk steps in, bring a towel if you intend to swim, and carry cash or a card for the gate. Do not plan a big picnic on the swimming beach, as space is tight and the birds investigate food. Skip the guided penguin tours sold in the Waterfront if you are already driving down the peninsula: the site guides itself perfectly well with the panels, and any SANParks ranger at the gate will answer questions.

Getting there from central Cape Town takes about an hour by car, forty-five kilometres down the M3 and M4 through Muizenberg and along the False Bay coast road, which is one of the finest drives in the country. By train, the Metrorail Southern Line runs from Cape Town station through Observatory, Muizenberg, Kalk Bay and Fish Hoek to Simon's Town, the terminus, with a single fare of roughly R12-R20; service levels vary, so check before relying on it. From Simon's Town station it is a 20-25 minute walk south along Main Road to the Boulders turn-off, or a short metered taxi of about R40-R60. Two small SANParks car parks serve the gates, plus limited roadside parking on Bellevue Road that fills by 10:00 in summer.

The charge is the SANParks conservation fee, not a beach charge. At the time of writing that is in the region of R199 for an international adult and R99 for an international child, with reduced SADC rates and a much lower South African citizen and resident rate of around R49 adult and R25 child on production of an ID document; tariffs are revised annually on 1 November, so treat these as indicative and check the board at the gate. A Wild Card annual pass covers entry if you are visiting several national parks. Inside there is nothing else to pay for: no locker charge, no boardwalk supplement, no parking fee at the SANParks bays. Refreshments, souvenirs and toilets beyond the gate are in Simon's Town village, a short walk or drive away.

Go at opening time. Between 08:00 and 09:30 you get the boardwalk almost to yourself, the birds are active before the heat, and the car park is empty. From 10:30 to 15:00 in December and January the boardwalk is a queue, tour buses arrive in convoy, and the swimming cove is packed. Late afternoon, from about 16:30, thins out again. Season matters too: the main moult falls around November and December, when hundreds of scruffy, grounded birds sit on the sand, and breeding peaks vary but nests are visible for much of the year. Winter, May to August, is quiet, cool and often beautifully clear, though the site closes earlier at 17:00 and swimming is only for the hardy.

It suits families exceptionally well: children who have lost interest in every museum in the city will stare at penguins for an hour. The Foxy Beach boardwalk is wheelchair and pram accessible from the car park to the main viewing decks, which makes this one of the more genuinely accessible wildlife sites in the country, though the Boulders swimming cove involves steps and soft sand. Photographers should bring a moderate telephoto, though a phone works from the decks. People who dislike crowds should avoid the middle of the day entirely. If you have only an hour between trains, do the Foxy Beach boardwalk only and skip the swim.

Fold Boulders into a peninsula day: Simon's Town village and its naval museum are a 20-minute walk north, Kalk Bay harbour and its cafes are fifteen minutes up the coast by car, and the Cape Point section of the national park is another twenty-five minutes south. Honest caveats: the smell of a few thousand penguins in summer is strong and surprises people; the boardwalk is not a private wildlife encounter but a shared walkway that can be shoulder to shoulder; and the swimming beach is small, so on a hot Sunday it is genuinely crowded. Penguins are also not guaranteed to be on the swimming beach itself, and the birds bite, so keeping children an arm's length back is not optional advice.

Plan your visit TicketsR199 conservation fee (international adult) Time needed2-3 hr visit WhereSimon's Town Opening hours Dec-Jan daily 07:00-19:30 Feb-Mar and Oct-Nov daily 08:00-18:30 Apr-Sep daily 08:00-17:00 Hotels near Boulders Beach and the Penguin Colony

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