2009-10-08 - penguins need cuddles too!

When Ms. Penguin read her e-mail this morning, she got a mail from SANCCOB asking if it were possible to do the scheduled tour today instead of Friday. We had no plans for the day other than being lazy around Stellenbosch, so we arranged for a time for the tour, and headed out to Table View, where SANCCOB is located.

Table View is called that for a very obvious reason. It sports an amazing view of Cape Town and Table Mountain. I don't even want to know how much it costs to buy a house there, especially one that is close to the beach. The pristine white sand beach that is popular with surfers. Aaah...

Anyway, when we got to SANCCOB, we were met by our guide Karen, and shown around the different areas and told about the kind of work they do. Basically, they are a wildlife rehabilitation charity that survives on private donations. They rehabilitate mostly penguins (oiled penguins, abandoned chicks, penguins that have washed onto shore for some reason or other, etc.), as well as other seabirds. They are NOT a zoo or an aquarium; if you want to visit you have to make arrangements in advance. They also do talks for school groups; this alsoy has to be booked in advance, naturally.

It's not "just like that" rehabilitating penguins and seabirds either. For example, penguins are picky eaters. Their fish must be "just so" and clean (fish that drops on the floor cannot be used). And salty; the fish also has to be dipped in a brine before the penguins are willing to eat it. The chicks cannot eat very large pieces of fish, so fish has to be cut for them. In a certain way of course. One also has to make sure they eat enough (or not too much) and that they get their vitamins and necessary medication.

When the pengu‌ins arrive, they are first given a veterinary check. They are then moved between various pens, based on their stage of recovery. You could see the differences between the new arrivals (one was especially skinny, as in bones-sticking-out skinny), the ones partially healthy, and the ones ready for release, all feisty and skeptical to people. Only experienced volunteers are allowed to handle the penguins that are ready for release, because they are so strong and healthy and bite even harder than the weak penguins (who can also bite quite hard). We were shown some examples of the damage penguins can do with their beaks - some protective gloves that had lots of holes in them :-)

Washing penguins can also be quite a nightmare. They're just like little kids, dogs, and cats; they don't want to take a bath and will resist any attempt to bathe them! It took two people to bathe a penguin - one to scrub it and the other to hold it down. Sometimes the penguin would almost break free, and make quite a splash. It also took two people to rinse a penguin, and again, one to do the actual rinsing while the other held the penguin down. Both washing and rinsing are important jobs though, as they need to get the oil sludge completely out of their feathers, and then the detergent completely rinsed out. This takes time; around one hour per penguin.

The highlight of the day was a meeting with Rocky, a resident rockhopper penguin. Rockhopper penguins are not indigenous to South Africa, so they cannot be released into the wild. Fortunately, it's rare that rockhoppers (and other type of penguins that aren't African penguins) show up on the South African coast. Anyway, Rocky is quite tame and loves company. He's just like a little puppy. When Karen was in the pen, Rocky came up to her and started nipping at her leg; imagine a little kid hanging on to the leg of Mom. Just like that. Very cute! Rocky was then let out of his pen, and we started taking a closer look at him. At one point, Rocky nipped at a bug that was on Mr. Penguin's leg, and Karen said that it was OK to touch Rocky. So we did. Wheeee! Ms. Penguin managed to sneak in a rub on the belly and is thrilled that she has finally rubbed a real penguin's belly! :-D

Pengu‌ins are surprisingly soft, except for the wings, which are hard and bristly. The feathers are short, and the feather density is very high. Petting penguin feathers was almost like petting fur.

Rocky is allowed to walk freely around the area, and he loves to hang out in the SANCCOB offices while the employees are working. Oh, and they're called rockhopper penguins for a reason. He didn't waddle around; he hopped around! Like on a pogo stick! It was very cute! Boing, boing, there goes a penguin!

Oh, and we can't forget Mia (we hope we remember her name correctly), the other young (three months old; Rocky is eight months) rockhopper who shares a pen with Rocky. We could pet her too, but she was a bit shy, so we let her be. She had two prominent scars on her torso - shark bites! This sweet little penguin survived a shark attack somehow. Tough little thing! :-)

After the tour, Mini Wolfgang and Mini Bobble (our plush traveling penguin and owl, for those of you who don't know already) adopted a penguin each! Since The Penguins already have a penguin called Wolfgang, Mini Wolfgang called his penguin Wolfgang II. Mini Bobble simply called his penguin Bobble (and it looks like a bobble too). Egocentric little things ;-)

We drove around the general area for a little while, making stops to take photos. We had lunch at a seaside Italian restaurant in a new development area of the posh kind; think pale men in those wussy golf sweaters who walk around with tiny non-dogs (you know, those kinds that are in fashion now, that eagles can take but don't because they have taste), and then headed back towards Stellenbosch. Along the way back to our apartment, we did two wine tastings. The first one was at Simonsig. They make excellent sparkling wine, both white and rosé. We tasted their higher range wines, as opposed to the last time we were there (as part of an organized tour in 2006) and tasted the regular stuff that they give to people who come to do tastings but don't know what to ask for.

The next tasting was at Beyerskloof. They had an interesting rosé sparkling wine using the Méthode Charmat method (where the second fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks, as opposed to bottles like with the Champagne method). It had a lovely foamy feel and a delicate flavor. Their Diesel Pinotage 2007, named after the winemaker's pet dog, was also fantastic.

Beyerskloof was the 30th winery we did tastings at during this trip!

Umami was the restaurant of choice for dinner. The concept is based on the umami taste, the fifth taste, and the food is prepared with the intention of bringing out its "umaminess." Fascinating stuff.

In our usual boring style (hah!), we ate the same thing, both for the starter and for the main. All vegetarian. Not because we were specifically after vegetarian food, but because they were the choices that looked most interesting. Our starter was a mushroom bento box - four different mushroom dishes beautifully presented in an elegant bento box. The dishes were: tempura shiitake with truffle mayonnaise; aubergine and roasted garlic stuffed brown mushroom; marinated king oyster mushrooms and beetroot salad; Thai green curry button mushroom turnover. Our favorite was the one with the aubergine, although all four were very tasty. This starter was also huge - huge enough to be its own main course!

For the main dish, we had waterblommetjie (water lily) risotto. It was served as a risotto with steamed corn, water lilies, and shiitake mushrooms, with a water lily tempura on top. This was absolutely delicious! Ms. Penguin is on a water lily kick now, and wishes she could get them at home...

With our meal, we had the Uva Mira Sauvignon blanc 2008, which was the suggested wine for both the bento box and the risotto:
color: too dark to see
nose: tropical fruits, slightly flowery
palate: dry, pleasant acidity, fruity, flavor of lemon and green gooseberries, relatively full-bodied. It was a nice match with our food, and would also be nice with fish and seafood.
Grade: :-)+