Boulders Beach
Interesting facts
- African penguins are nicknamed jackass penguins because their loud braying call sounds remarkably like a donkey.
- A census in mid-2026 counted roughly 790 breeding pairs at Boulders, about 8 to 9 percent of all African penguins in South Africa.
- Around 1910 there were an estimated 1.5 million African penguins; by 2023 the species had fallen below 10,000 breeding pairs.
- The birds nest in burrows or in hollows of sand sheltered beneath boulders and bushes, laying two eggs that take about 40 days to hatch.
- Each adult has bare pink patches of skin above the eyes, and stands only about 60 to 70 centimetres tall.
- Foraging African penguins usually dive to around 25 metres, but they have been recorded reaching depths of 130 metres.
- During their annual moult, which lasts about three weeks, the penguins lose roughly half of their body weight.
- In the wild an African penguin typically lives between 10 and about 25 years.
- In the 2024 Golden Beach Awards Boulders was ranked the second-best beach in the world.
Why it is worth it
Boulders Beach is a small chain of coves on the False Bay shore of the Cape Peninsula, just south of the naval town of Simon's Town, and it owes its name and its look to the stone. Enormous rounded granite boulders, around 540 million years old, are scattered along the shore and in the water, enclosing pockets of white sand and calm, clear pools sheltered from the swell. On their own they would make this one of the prettiest corners of the Cape; but the boulders are also home to a colony of African penguins, and that makes the beach unique.
The colony is young. In 1982 just two breeding pairs settled here; within a few decades the population had grown to around three thousand birds, helped in part by restrictions on commercial trawling in False Bay that left more sardines and anchovies for them to feed on. The African penguin is found only in southern Africa and is now critically endangered, and Boulders is one of the very few places where it breeds on the mainland rather than on offshore islands. The birds waddle across the sand and rest among the rocks, entirely at home a few steps from the bathers.
The site is part of Table Mountain National Park, which manages access to protect the colony. At Foxy Beach, boardwalks take visitors to within a few metres of the nesting birds without disturbing them, while at Boulders itself swimming is allowed in the sheltered water between the boulders, sometimes with a penguin passing by. Seen together, the grey stone, the pale sand, the turquoise water and the black-and-white birds make an image as unexpected as it is beautiful.
Getting there
Boulders Beach lies a short way south of Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula; Muizenberg is about 11 km away and central Cape Town further north along the same shore. The nearest airport is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), about 29 km away. Simon's Town is the terminus of Cape Town's Southern Line suburban railway, whose tracks run along the edge of False Bay; from the station it is a short ride or a walk of a few kilometres to the beach.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Cape of Good Hope 18.0 km · cliff
- Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden 23.3 km · botanical-garden
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula, in Simon's Town, in the southern region of Cape Town, South Africa. It is also commonly known as Boulders Bay.
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