Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Penguins and cheetahs

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Penguins and cheetahs

Hello all Visiting South Africa in August, while there going to visit the penguins at Boulders Beach, how close can you get? is it busy? any other info Also intrested in a visit to Cheetah Land (I think thats what is called) is it busy? I've seen a few photos of people holding the cheetahs is this just for the special few. Is there any places like this for lion? in south africa all information much appreciated, count down now till we go, 4 months to go! (have'nt worked out how many sleeps that is yet) Maybe fodors whould look into providing little counters for this to!! thanks all Clare

Boulders has a number of little beaches which ae separated by yes, boulders. You can access the beaches from a path along the back. the beach closest to Simonstown has the most penguins and you can view them from a deck which separates you from the beach. The beach furthest way from Simonstown has a number of penguins and you can access that beach and get quite close. We spent a full day on that beach and there a quite alot of penguins there early on in the day. The cheetah conservancy is at Spier wine estate. You can enter the cheetah enclosure and have a cheetah sit on your lap for a fee. It is available to anyone. I think that they allow this at certain times, probably AFTER lunch, for obvious reasons, but I could be wrong and it might be all day. As for patting lions, many years ago at the Lion park near Johannesburg, you could pat and feed lion cubs with a bottle. I have not been there in 10 years so I am not sure if they still have this feature.

Barcadi, Regarding the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, you can get probably within 10 feet of many penguins. I took some excellent photographs of the penguins, some while they were giving birth (laying eggs). Let me just say that I got a million times better photos of the African penguins than I was able to get of the Antarctic? Penguins while I was in Punta Arenas, the tip of South America in Chile.

Hi Clare, You seem to have the answers above re penguins and cheetahs. About the lions, there is also a farm out in Rustenburg (west of Jo'burg)that allows you to pet the babies. I was there with a friend, Willem, who lives there and held a cub until my arms gave out - they are a lot heavier than your average house cat! You may want to ask Willem about it (he knows a lot more about it than I do) and if so his email is [email protected] Hope this helps. Karen aka golfer [email protected]

Hi Barcadi, The info that Waverley has given you about the penguins is spot on and you can certainly use this as something to work on. By the time you arrive in Cape Town the new information centre at the penguin colony will be complete and you will be able to obtain lots more info too. The beach at which you will see the penguins is called The Boulders. It is split into 4 beaches with the one on which the penguins stay on called Foxy Beach. Rocco is correct about the fact that you could well see penguins within 10 feet and in some cases even much closer. Just be careful because they bite ferociously. As far as the cheetahs are concerned the Cheetah Outreach programme is open from 11h00 till 17h00 daily 7 days a week. There are generally always cheetahs that you can pat however forget about sitting with a cheetah on your lap as that will not happen. You are only allowed to pat the cheetah, have a picture taken and ask as many questions about the cheetahs to which I can assure you that the very friendly volunteer handlers will gladly supply you with friendly expert answers. In my opinion as a tourism professional I do believe that both these activities are MUST DO events in Cape Town. I know of no venue where you can do lion patting in the Cape Town or Garden Route region. If you want any more info about your Cape Town stay just ask and I am sure that I or someone else in this super friendly forum will help. Hope the above helps. Selwyn Davidowitz [email protected]

Just a note: the last time I was in Ngorongoro, the driver guides were patting the lions and the lions seemed unperturbed. I didn't try it! Just proves how used to humans and vehicles the lions are in Ngorongoro.