Stony Point Penguin Colony

Stony Point is one of only a handful of land-based African penguin colonies, and it is the one most visitors have not heard of - Boulders Beach near Simon's Town gets the coaches, while this colony on the Overberg coast stays comparatively calm. A boardwalk runs through the middle of it, so the birds are close: nesting under bushes, in artificial burrows put in to replace the guano they once nested in, coming ashore in groups through the surf. Rock hyrax scramble over the same rocks and four cormorant species breed here, including the endangered bank cormorant. The site was a whaling station until the 1930s and the concrete foundations are still visible among the penguins, which is an odd juxtaposition the reserve does not hide. African penguins are endangered and the population has fallen steeply; the colony is monitored, and the walkways exist to keep people off the nests.

The landscape

• The boardwalk - a raised path through the middle of an active colony.
• The whaling foundations - concrete remains of a 1930s station among the nests.
• The artificial burrows - nest boxes replacing the guano layer birds once dug into.
• The cormorants - four breeding species including the endangered bank cormorant.

When to go

All year; spring and summer for chicks. One to two hours. Mornings and late afternoons are the most active.

What to expect

Penguins smell strongly and the colony is loud. Stay on the boardwalk - birds bite hard and the nests are fragile. The species is in serious decline, so numbers vary year to year. Facilities are basic and the drive from Cape Town takes about ninety minutes.

Nearby

Harold Porter botanical garden is in the same village; Kogelberg reserve is behind.

Key facts