WATCH | 'Incredible moment' as Antarctic penguin waddles up a Cape Point beach

Birdwatchers are in a flutter after a king penguin from at least 5,000km away waddled onto a beach at Cape Point on Wednesday.

Paddler Jasper Mocke shot a video of the bird at Buffels Bay, sparking a frenzy of flight bookings from as far away as Johannesburg and Durban.

Mocke said he was among a group of surfski paddlers who set off from Buffels Bay on Wednesday morning to Cape Point and back.

“We saw the penguin before we left, but it was quite far away and we thought it was just an African penguin,” said Mocke.

“When we got back, one of our party got his binoculars out to look at it and we realised it was a king penguin.

“There were about 10 of us sitting in the dunes, and it walked up and just stood there for about half an hour. It was an incredible moment.”

Mocke said his brother Dawid, a four-time world surfski champion, had encountered king penguins in the Antarctic, so he knew the birds had no fear of humans.

“It was completely calm. It even followed us to the car park when we were leaving,” he said. 

In the hours that followed, the calm evaporated as birdwatchers arrived in huge numbers. “It’s chaos there now!” said Mocke.

South African National Parks said on Twitter: “This has gained a tremendous amount of interest from birders across the country. We urge the public to keep their distance from the penguin as his activity will be monitored over the next few days.”

The male bird is in excellent condition, according to Nicky Stander, rehabilitation manager at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

She said it had been examined through a zoom lens by a vet and a government environmental official. “The bird has some old scars but nothing requiring our attention,” said Stander.

For now it will be left to its own devices on the beach. “We won’t move an animal if there’s no necessity,” she said.

Stander said the vet had seen signs of fish oil on the penguin, which meant it had been feeding.

The closest king penguin colony is on South Georgia, which is 4,784 km from Cape Town as the penguin swims. Stander said it was possible that it had swum all the way to Buffels Bay. “Alternatively, it could have been transported on a vessel and eventually dumped overboard. In such cases, the birds are normally fed by hand.”

Table Mountain National Park rangers were monitoring the bird and creating a safe space for it, she said.

A statement by Sanccob said it would only intervene if the bird needed medical attention: “SANParks will only move it if it is still on the beach after a few days. We implore members of the public to keep a safe distance and we are hopeful that the bird will re-enter the ocean and make its journey back.”

John Hishin, who was in Mocke’s group of paddlers, posted on Facebook: “So awesome to see a king penguin standing proudly on Buffels [Bay] Beach, Cape Point Nature Reserve. When we walked onto the beach for a closer look, the fellow walked straight up to us - and wanted to follow us home when we left!”

Birdwatcher Howard Langley described the encounter as “impossible".

"I photographed a king penguin in my ‘happy place’, Cape Point. Thanks to John Hishin for alerting the birding community of this mega-sighting," said Langley.

In a post addressed to members of BirdLife South Africa, David Swanepoel said: “This morning I had no idea that it would be possible to share this photograph today, but as I was settling down to get on with the day's business, word came that a king penguin came ashore at Buffels Bay.

“At just shy of 1m tall, this is a beast of a bird. According to the literature, they often dive to depths of over 250m - each dive typically lasting in the order of two minutes, but up to seven minutes has been recorded.”