South Africa- penguins at Rooiels and Pringle Bay

The day after we were in Cape Town's city, we drove to Rooiels which is around 2 hours drive from Cape Town to stay in the beach home of J, our host's dad.  Her sister and family were there too and I was immensely glad to be spending New year's eve in a home rather than braving vast crowds which always sets me On Edge.

After arriving at Rooiels, we saw signs warning of and were told about the baboons that roam the tiny little seaside suburb.   Yet, I'd seen all these signs for baboons but not ACTUALLY glimpsed one of the elusive beasties!  We drove to nearby Pringle Bay to see the penguins! We were super keen to see them since the day we were supposed to see them at Boulders Beach (the day we went to Cape Point), the beach was absolutely heaving so we decided to forgo a visit!

Pringle Bay was beautifully bereft of tourists. If you ever go to South Africa, whilst Rooiels isn't a big well known place with much to do (great in my opinion), it was a great place to see penguins!

This comical fellow walked up the slope towards me!

I delight in penguins leaning down to, what I perceived to be, inspecting their tummy buttons!

It was truly a mesmerising activity. I liked seeing them in various gradations of down showing a plethora of ages.

Suddenly, as we reached a low hedge, I spied a small furry animal...

Unbelievably this Rock Rabbit came right up to the hedge and was less than 10cm away from me.

As it chewed upon leaves, I couldn't believe I managed to capture such a cheeky shot!

CBC and J and D were less impressed than I and so soon we continued onwards.

When we reached the very end of the wooden walkway, we noticed other birds- are they Cormorants?

The colours suddenly seemed to change here with light, almost white-coloured rocks and an increasingly blue and turbulent sea.

Alas, it was all too soon that we had to leave as the sun was baking down and J was keen to get back.

I captured a pair of bickering birds on film which I found quite amusing so it is here for your delectation.

I couldn't believe it that on the way back, every else spotted 2 baboons on the road, and I somehow missed them! Ahrgh, would I ever see them?

Following that, we proceeded back to the house as Rooiels where we collected together our swimming costumes and walked down to the beach (no camera alas!).  This beach was on the WARM side of the ocean so the sea was really pleasant to swim and splash in.  This beach had many sea shells and a lovely lagoon too so it was a great AND quieter place to swim. I still couldn't believe I was spending New Year's Eve swimming in the sea!

Back at the house we had a bonefide South African Braai (barbecue) with tasty food and then chatted. I watched The Gummi Bears on the TV with J's adorable nieces and ended up sleeping on the sofa until midnight whereupon, I was hauled out onto the balcony/veranda to see in the New Year!

It was a wonderful way to spend New Year.  Chilled, with friends and no crowds!

xxx