This past week I had very long shifts but I learned a lot & saw the impact of the efforts of SANCCOB – please read about their good work!

Floods threaten survival of African penguins

I had a lovely tour on my day off that included some of the most visited & beautiful places in Cape Town!

First, we travelled along the Cape Peninsula along Chapman’s Peak – named after John Chapman, the pilot of an English ship in 1607. The skipper sent his pilot ashore to find provisions, and the name was recorded as Chapman’s Chaunce. Chapman’s Peak Drive was cut out of the face of the mountain between 1915 and 1922. The road was closed in the 1990s after a rockfall & again closed for number of months in 2008, it is now part of the route of two of South Africa’s biggest mass-participation races, the Cape Argus Cycle Race and the Two Oceans Marathon.

Very stunning!

Next, we stopped at the Cape of Good Hope – here we saw some wild ostriches & some colorful sea anemones.

I hiked to the top of Cape Point for some beautiful views – there were a lot of signs to not feed the baboons but sadly – I didn’t see any.

Finally, we visited the Boulder’s Beach penguin colony – it was great to see where the penguins at SANCCOB come from & will eventually go.

Another extremely beautiful spot & lots of adorable penguins!

One of the challenges in Cape Town is the demand for electricity.

Load shedding is a way to distribute demand for electrical power across multiple power sources. It’s used to relieve stress on a primary energy source when demand for electricity is greater than the primary power source can supply. Most buildings, including data centers, purchase electrical power from a utility provider.

Places like SANCCOB have generators but there is a lot of strain put on them turning off & on throughout the day & they burn out quickly. The other day we had to fill rubber gloves with hot water to keep the chicks warm while the power was off.

Below is a picture of this past weekend’s schedule of power outages – the good thing is that you can somewhat plan accordingly.

“Student Saving Endangered Penguins Halfway Around the World” by Melissa Bouse

https://gofund.me/8f94e9b7

I arrived about 2 weeks ago after a long couple flights – unfortunately, I was a bit sick for the first week. I had to postpone my start day by a couple days because I wasn’t feeling well enough. I am just now starting to feeling completely healthy & excited for the shift 🥳.

My internship at SANCCOB has been really hard work but also very rewarding. I am extremely impressed by the staff & the volunteers, they are all very dedicated to the cause & I am learning so much. It’s much more physical than Angel Flight NE but I do get a lot of time outdoors & I am just outside more in general which I love. My hours have been 5am-2pm 5 days a week & will shift to 1pm-9pm or 8am-6pm on occasion, they are long shifts but the reward is working closely with inspiring people & adorable birds.

I am staying at a beautiful apartment by the beach, I’ll share more about living here on another post but wanted to share an update.

Things like load shedding, no heat or dryer is a bit of an adjustment but I’m adapting 😁.