This Island's for the Birds... And Seals.

West Coast missions are a big win!

I love heading north to the small seaside towns of whitewashed cottages, cold salty air and illegal crayfish syndicates. Here, life is slow and the seafood is cheap.

Bleached beaches stretch endlessly and cold Atlantic water fluctuates between tentatively licking the fine sand, and raging a terrible storm across the rocky outcrops. Each coastal 'dorpie' has it's own unique attributes and community, with numerous surf spots linking them up, all the way from Langebaan to Papendorp.

Classic Atlantic.

Lamberts Bay is no exception, and it has a little rocky node of meager fame too: Lambert’s Bay Bird Island. Living here are two impressive colonies of mortal enemies: Cape Fur Seals and Cape Gannets… More about them later though. We arrived in the early afternoon and got straight down to eating some oily, harbour-side seafood.

That's the kind of view you wanna graze seafood next to.

Our accommodation was in the aptly named Lambert’s Bay Hotel – an aging institution that once had an ocean view, but now looks down on the tin roof of the local chip factory (apparently potato farming is a big thing that side) which is, for obvious reasons, a favourite place for the seagulls to hang around.

So the view wasn't a humdinger, but at least I could hear the sea. Besides, I wouldn't be spending too much time indoors anyway.

One of the strangest things about the hotel was the 'do not disturb' sign on my door. I don't know who made this and I don't care to know what was going through their head at the time. All I know is that sometimes, in the race to keep up with the technological lingo of the day, it's best to be left behind. I think we all know what "Googling" alludes to - and it's not something I want to be publicly admitting to with a sign on my door.

It's the ellipsis that really makes it look dodgy.

In the lobby was one of my least favourite things. A lonely African Grey in a cage. As Vernon RL Head called it in 'The Search for the Rarest Bird in the World': "the caged emblem of bird prisons". The bird's balding demeanour was likely due to the stress of being alone. Grey Parrots belong in a flock and they slowly go insane when they're cut off from social contact with other Greys.

In his book, Head goes on to aptly describe what it is to see a bird in a cage:

"For birdwatchers a bird in a cage is not a bird, it is only the sad memory of a bird. It is the polar opposite of birdwatching, at the place of not seeing: the place of objects, of pot plants and chained monkeys; the place of the wingless and the tamed. To not know this is to surrender one's own freedom, to deny one's own place in the landscape, to deny seeing. It is, ultimately, startlingly, to be like the bird in the cage."

I was glad to be leaving the dusty hotel for the Island. Our focus was the colony of seals that abides on the rocky fringe of the haven, but I was pretty keen on spending some time with birds in flight after seeing the poor lobby-beset parrot.

Bird Island is 3-hectares and is connected to the mainland via a breakwater. It's home to thousands of birds and is one of six sites world-wide that Cape Gannets breed. It's the only site where the public have any access at all to view the breeding colony (restricted to a viewing hide of course).

So regal... Until they look straight at you with that 'derp' face :')

Gannets are ungainly birds on the ground. In the air and in the water they dive and glide with ease and grace, but here on the stony floor, they trip and stumble through the colony. Various generations of birds sat amongst the giant collective. Their plumage giving away their age and adding to the textured tapestery of blacks, whites, yellows and blues, feathers and fluff.

I want a shirt with this printed all over it.

The gannet colony is like an airport full of insane cartoon characters. These birds take immense run ups before taking flight and crash land into one another constantly. It's great fun to watch, but unfortunately we had a job to do, and it didn't include the gannets.

We bypassed the birds to get to work filming the seal colony. While the birds sit high and dry in the centre of the island, the seals are confined to the rocks that lie around it out towards the sea - meaning they need to bare the brunt of this furious ocean when the high tide or a storm sets in. On arrival however, conditions were calm and the colony lay about in peace, soaking up the sun and frolicking in the lazy waters around their abode. Piles of seal pups lay atop one another, their dark coats blending them all into one fluffy mound. As they grow older their coats will become lighter, until they resemble the matriarchs that sit, noses in the air, trusting their personal space will not be infringed upon.

So cute as youngsters but they become increasingly loud and obnoxious as they get older...

There's good reason that the seals are restricted to only the rocky outcrops of the island. A single seal could wipe out hundreds of Gannets in a few hours. This would be a disaster to the bird colony, their population would be properly dented after taking a hit like that.

A thin strip of land separates the predator from the prey.

So, every day, a rep from CapeNature must walk the line that borders the seal colony, chasing them off the rocks that have been deemed too close for comfort. Every day, the seals move in again and the border patrol must be repeated.

The daily grind. Yves from CapeNature chasing seals off the rocks.

The island reeks of death. Seals and gannets die off daily and their carcasses are left to rot on the stony beach. I took a few gnarly shots of some seal skeletons, fighting off the urge to blow chunks all over the place...

Black and white for extra grunge.

That evening we decided to visit the famous "Muisbosskerm". Voted one of the top ten sea-view restaurants in the world, it was a must-see in this little town of not-much-else-going-on. We weren't disappointed! We arrived just before sunset and admired the beach access and unique structural make-up of the building.

Ideal setting to sink a few bevvies!

The name of the restaurant means "Mouse-Bush Shelter" - muisbos being a type of scrubby vegetation that grows in this coastal sandveld. The walls of the restaurant are made of compacted muisbos that is added to every year, making it incredibly dense and a fantastic barrier to block out the howling west-coast winds!

We polished off several courses of delicious fish and numerous sides, all cooked to absolute perfection. We also sampled a few local brews from the area, which weren't bad at all either! It was an INSANELY good meal and well worth the R250 cover. I'd recommend visiting this restaurant even if it takes you three hours drive to get there!

Sipping West Coast on the West Coast.

We were on the rocks again early the next morning, and it became pretty obvious why so many seal carcasses littered the island. The waves were fierce, each one battering the colony with massive force and often knocking the tiny pups into the water below, from where they'd have to scramble to safety back on the rocks. In calm conditions, many seals were happily swimming in the ocean, leaving plenty of room on the rocks. Now, the entire colony sat bundled up, with the largest adults facing the ocean and bearing the brunt of the powerful waves.

To be fair, they didn't seem too fazed about the crashing waves. Just another day in the life...

It was an intense thing to watch, and my nerves were pretty shattered, fearing the worst for some of the smallest pups in the colony. But as the waves died down and the sea settled into the afternoon, the colony resumed its happy sun tanning and it seemed, the drama of the morning was forgotten.

According to our CapeNature rep, Yves (who runs things on the island), the biggest threat to these creatures is not the weather or the sharks. It's the never-ending pollution that washes up and is either eaten by the seals, or entangles them - cutting into their skin as they grow into it or choking them to death. We were only on the island for two days and we saw several seals with such afflictions. While it is sad, as Yves lamented to us, it is good to know that at least these Cape Fur Seals are in no way endangered and have a healthy population. That's a lot more than we can say for countless species also affected by oceanic pollution.

What you can see: a yearling seal caught up in rope. What you can't see: the massive laceration on its left side caused by said rope.

On our way off the island, the wind had picked up and it was, apparently, ideal conditions for the Gannets to show off their skills in the air. I had an absolutely epic moment when the birds soared directly over my head for a few brief minutes, something that Yves said is a rare experience! It was wonderful to see these birds in such happy flight.

Epic experience.

It was time to head back to Cape Town, but Yves had a small favour to ask of us: two birds needed to be delivered to SANCCOB, and since we were heading that way, would we mind dropping off the cargo to save him a trip. We happily obliged, and loaded up two new passengers: a baby gannet that had lost its nest and a young, slightly injured African Penguin.

These two unlucky fellas will have a second crack at life, thanks to Yves at CapeNature and the good folks at SANCCOB.

We headed back to Cape Town with big smiles on our faces. It had been a short and smelly, but epic experience watching these two iconic west coast species battle it out against the elements. We drove off down what was apparently an illegal (we only just got away without paying a fine) dirt road - which was worth the risk, because the coastal views were amazing! We also passed one of the longest trains in the world, on the Sishen-Saldanha line.

I took these through car windows, excuse the reflections...

If you're keen to be a west coast winner like us, definitely pop in to check out the birds and seals of Lamberts Bay, then let the experience sink in with the local beers and food at Muisbosskerm! Totally worth the trip, and although I might skip the hotel next time around, I'll certainly be back!

#blogpost #travel #wildlife