The adorable penguins at Boulders Beach

During my trip to South Africa, we actually saw a lot of different kind of animals. One of the highlights was to go cage diving with the Great White Shark, but another highlight was visiting the adorable penguins at Boulders Beach! This really is a must-see place when visiting South Africa.

Boulders Beach is in Simons Town, about an hour drive from Cape Town. It is easy to drive down there by yourself, like we did, or there are several organized tours from CapeTown which will take you to Boulders Beach and Cape of Good Hope. I am really glad we drove there because we had great flexibility and we could stay there for as long as we wanted. Of course, we didn’t spend enough time with the little tuxedoed creatures even though we were there for a few hours, so make sure you have enough time.

You have to pay a small fee to enter the giant granite boulders where the penguins sunbathe during the day, but is it totally worth it! There is a boardwalk that will take you to the boulders where you can look at the penguins from a distance. No one is allowed down at the beach where the majority of the penguins are, as this is their area. However, if you continue along the boardwalk, where you can also cross paths with a penguin, you will find a beach that is open to the public. And some of the penguins do come there as well, and if you are brave enough to dive into the ocean then you can swim with them! That is one heck of an experience to go home with, believe me!

But don’t go too close to the penguins, even though they are irresistibly cute, because they can bite. But there are so many cute penguins to watch that you don’t really have to go all up in their face, you can simply watch them swim, waddling across the beach and hug each other. Remember that we are on their territory. It is not allowed to touch them and it is important to respect that. But it truly is a spectacular experience, and you can’t visit Cape Town without taking the drip down to Boulders Beach. It is the perfect place to stop on the popular drive down to Cape of Good Hope, and I honestly think Boulders Beach was far more exciting the southern west point of continental Africa.