With penguins at the end of the world

How enchanting are they? And how fascinating! 🐧

On land, their somewhat awkward waddling gait makes them seem as if evolution could have tweaked their locomotion a bit more. But legs are overrated anyway – as the rock hyraxes at Boulders Beach demonstrate. 😎

I'm reminded of Eckart von Hirschhausen, who uses penguins in one of his stories about happiness as an example of how crucial the right environment is: On land, a penguin seems slow, clumsy, and somehow out of place. But as soon as it gets into the water, the little waddling bird transforms into an elegant, incredibly fast swimmer.

The underlying message is roughly: Maybe there's nothing wrong with you – maybe you're just not in your element right now. 🙄

And then there's this traffic sign: "UNDER YOUR CAR?" 😂 Apparently, before driving off, you not only need to look in the rearview mirror, but also under the car.

The fact that we then drive to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope and experience the spectacular Chapman's Peak Drive almost becomes a side issue for me.

It's just so hard to beat penguins. 😉