Bird Island Lamberts Bay

There are only six Cape gannet breeding colonies in the world, and this is the only one you can walk to - a causeway breakwater from Lamberts Bay harbour leads straight onto the island, where a viewing hide puts you a few metres from tens of thousands of nesting birds. Gannets nest at a fixed spacing, roughly a pecking distance apart, so the colony reads as a geometric grid of white and gold birds; they sky-dive for fish offshore and come back to elaborate greeting displays at the nest. Cape cormorants and African penguins also breed here, and Cape fur seals haul out on the rocks. The colony has had a hard history: seals coming ashore killed birds and caused mass desertions in the 2000s, and the reserve now manages that actively. The island is small, the smell is powerful, and the noise is constant.

What you actually see

• The walk-on access - the only gannet colony on earth reachable on foot.
• The nesting grid - birds spaced at pecking distance in a regular pattern.
• The hide - a viewing wall a few metres from the colony edge.
• The other breeders - Cape cormorants, penguins and seals on the same rock.

When to go

September to March covers the breeding season. One to two hours.

Honest expectations

The smell and noise are intense and the hide is enclosed. Numbers fluctuate - the colony has suffered desertions from seal predation. Wind on the breakwater is strong. Lamberts Bay is a long drive from Cape Town for a short visit unless combined with the West Coast route.

Nearby

Lamberts Bay's open-air seafood braai is at the harbour; the Cederberg is inland.