Passionate about penguins
HELLO friends. Did you know that yesterday was World Penguin Day? I love penguins, so I couldn’t let it just waddle past.
Like so many animals, penguins are in deep trouble, mostly because of humans, of course. And that includes right here on our doorstep, where St Croix is home to the biggest African penguin population in the world. Not as big as it used to be though – their numbers have dropped to just 7 000 penguins from 80 000 in 2002.
If you want to see penguins and find out more about them, as well as other marine life, you don’t have to go any further than Samrec, the marine bird rehabilitation centre at Cape Recife.
They don’t just rescue and rehabilitate seabirds such as penguins, they also offer tours of their marine rehab and education centre. I’ve been there. It was great, and you should ask your parents to take you there.
They are open from 9.30am to 3.30pm every day. Admission is R15 for children and pensioners and R25 for adults. One of the best times to visit is about 2.30pm when the penguins are being fed. You can watch the feeding from their Flying Penguin coffee shop, and see the penguins chilling around the pool.
Visit www.samrec.org.za to find out more about penguins and Samrec’s work. You could arrange for Samrec to give one of their educational talks at your school. Their phone number is (041) 583-1830.