Sorry I’ve totally failed at updating but it’s been super busy lately, and sorry that being super busy is always my excuse for not updating—fail.
First off South Africa was amazingly beautiful even though we had rain and clouds most days. It was more mountainous than I expected and the countryside’s if you will were just gorgeous. Table Mountain stands tall over Cape Town and on clear days looks impossibly flat and sculpted but on cloudy days it looks like someone put the world’s biggest fog machine on top. The fog literally falls off the edge and hugs the side of the cliffs on the way down. It looks so majestic and daunting in a way, and it literally just keeps rolling down until you cannot see the mountain at all. We jokingly started to call it “Tablecloth Mountain” after the third day of fog because we almost never got to see the actual thing.
The day we arrived Danielle and some others went shark cage diving so Sarah and I went to the V&A Waterfront and looked around in the morning. Typical SAS day one recon: find an ATM, figure out the best place to get free wifi, check out the souvenir shops and talk to EVERYONE to figure out the best things to do and see. That afternoon we went to SANCOB which is a Penguin Rehabilitation Center just outside of Cape Town. Sarah had found out about it a long time ago and started to get a group together because they do a very limited amount of tours. There are a few beaches in South Africa where penguins live in the wild and while they are very cool to see you cannot get close to the penguins (they are surprisingly viscous). Also, you can adopt a penguin at SANCOB :)
We got to tour the facility and learn about how they receive penguins who are injured or sick or who are victims of oil spills and the like. Penguins can be brought in by groups or (I believe) by volunteers. The funny thing is that they literally have a Bird Drop Off Box sitting outside the door because sometimes deliveries are made after hours. So if you ever find an injured penguin just stick it in the drop off box and they will get it in the morning haha. We also got a look at their ICU and treatment centers for the penguins who are injured or malnourished. (Oh I should probably mention that they also have birds there but we were more focused on the Penguins). They have stages of pens that the birds travel through on their way to recovery. There is a pen for penguins who are still needing essentially an IV type drip for food or water, a pen for those still on medication, one for those who are eating by themselves but need to build up strength, one for those who are working on the oil covering for their feathers so that they are waterproof, and finally the home pen. Home pen looks like your typical zoo exibit for penguins, minus the snow. There is a pond for them to swim in and plenty of rocks to climb on.
SANCOB’s main focus is to nurse them back to health so that they can be released back into the wild but they do have a few penguins who live there full-time. One named Yaga lost a flipper and stays there because it would be almost impossible for her to swim and survive in the wild. Roger is the same, he lost an eye, and so lives at SANCOB. Finally there’s Rocky, a Rock Hopper penguin that they believe was once a pet on a cargo ship or something similar as she is not indigenous to South Africa and is very comfortable with humans. Apparently it is common to take a penguin on as a pet if you find one alone whilst sailing—I kind of want to do that now, not gonna lie. She was super cute and funny and we were allowed to pet her and take pictures with her. She was nice and friendly but man that penguin has an attitude lol, especially when she is dealing with the staff—it was sooo funny to watch.
After SANCOB we just went back to the ship for dinner before heading out to the previously scouted wifi points and going to bed.
More in a bit—I promise
~Colleen
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