Hippo Gnu Year with Penguins!

We did not realize our New Year's plans would be such formal affairs or maybe we might have dressed in more appropriate attire. The invitations after all did not say "black tie!"













But the penguins we spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with were all dressed to the nines!

We visited them in their colonies in Betty's Bay and Boulders and I must say, it did look like we had stumbled into a New Year's Eve party at Gatsby's place on the North Shore of Long Island.

But wearing black tie would have been a bit impractical when we volunteered at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds or SANCCOB on New Year's Day!

A friend (Venessa) of a friend (Steve) is the director there and we arranged to help out on New Year's morning with the care and feeding of the close to 500 penguins who currently call SANCCOB home.










Most of the penguins - a good 450 of them - are there temporarily. They may have come in contaminated by oil spills or injured by boats or orphaned. They will rehabilitate here and then be sent back to their colonies in Betty's Bay, Boulders or one of the several other colonies along the South African coast that SANCCOB services.

Some are permanent residents though. Like this rockhopper who may have stowed away on (or been smuggled aboard) a ship out of Antarctica and is now too far from home to be returned. Or others whose injuries make it impossible for them to live in the wild again.










After a brief tour and overview of the facilities, we were given our assignments.

Vince at least was able to employ his extensive culinary skills by preparing  ...










... Fruits de Mer platters for the adult penguins.

This is what an MBA in Finance and a Master's degree in Computer Science qualifies you for! Dish washing ...

Oh yeah ... and preparing fish formula in blenders for the baby penguins. Yum!!!

Alex got the glory job, feeding and handling the little devils!

They each have an individual meal and medication plan which is administered twice a day! Individually! For almost 500 penguins! They can accommodate 1000 but thank goodness they were not at capacity.










"Thanks for breakfast!"














Every day ... with no days off! SANCCOB is awesome!!!













Hooray indeed!!!

... and Hippo Gnu Year!