Chilling with African penguins near Cape Town

African penguins are only found on the coastlines of Southern Africa and are currently on the verge of extinction so they are a protected species

I visited Boulder's Beach a few times when I was in Cape Town 3 1/2 years ago and another two times with Lee; it's my favorite place among the many great destinations around Cape Town

African penguins are monogamous and pairs return to the same site each year for breeding with nesting usually peaking from March to May in South Africa

African penguins have a black stripe and black spots on the chest, the pattern of spots being unique for every penguin, like human fingerprints

I have to wonder what the penguins are thinking; Lee enjoyed hanging out with the penguins at least as much as I did!

The world has changed so much in the weeks since the photo was taken; what I wouldn't give to turn the clock back to an afternoon lounging with the penguins!

From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to 3,000+ birds; this is partly due to the reduction in commercial trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of sardines and anchovy, which form part of the penguins' diet

It's easy to see how Boulder's Beach got its name; the beach has been a very popular tourist attraction since the penguins started calling it home

The African penguin is a banded penguin and are similar in shape, color and behavior to other banded penguins like the Galapagos penguin; they are typically about 2 ft tall

If you got too close the penguins would nip at you (they can peck hard enough to draw a little blood) but once you sat down they just walked around you

Roughly 4 million African penguins existed at the beginning of the 19th century; the population had fallen to 1.5 million by 1910 and fell further to only 150,000 by the end of the 20th century