Penguins, guinea fowl and other birds spotted in South Africa! (Photo-essay)

"Did you go on safari?", an American friend asked me after he learnt that I had been in South Africa recently.  Since that's the Kiswahili word for "trip" or "journey", I technically had been -- but I knew what my friend actually was asking was whether I had gone on tour to see wild animals such as lions and elephants, so I answered in the negative.  

If anything, the closest I had been to visiting a place where wild animals are to be found was the local pond in Durbanville, a suburb of Cape Town where I spent a few days and nights since it's where my South African friend grew up and his mother still lives.  On my final morning in South Africa, we headed over to that idyllic space where a variety of birds make their home.  

At the same time though, there were three sites where I made wild creature spottings that I considered quite a bit more exciting: the waterfront by Kalky's, where I spotted a sea lion; the stretch of garden by my South African friends' maternal grandparents' house, where I spotted a flock of exotic looking guinea fowl; and, improbably, Robben Island, best known as a prison island but also home to penguins(!) and some 130 other species of birds!         

The kind of idyllic place many people would like 

to have in their neighborhood :)

 

A closer look at some of the ducks that have made

the pond their home

A bird whose long, thin legs I found particularly interesting

 

On the other hand, it was this bird's long neck

and thin body which intrigued! ;b

 

I've seen relatives of this heron over in various parts of 

the Big Lychee and Japan as well as Amsterdam!

 

Guinea fowl roaming about freely!

 

 Aren't the patterns on this bird's feathers pretty? 

 

Ultimately though, nothing can beat the sight of penguins

in the wild as far as I am concerned! :)