Cape Saunders

At 3:00 pm I was picked up by Elm Wildlife Tours to go to the Otago peninsula, and in particular to the Cape Saunders conservation area. On the way, there we saw a bunch of seabirds from the van, very special were the white spoonbills ("Löffler"). The first stop was the Albatross centre, a conservation area for Northern Royal Albatrosses, and their only onshore breeding place at all. After an introduction by the guide and a short movie about the centre, we could go up the hill to a viewing shelter from where you can watch some of the nesting area. The albatrosses are very beautiful and impressive birds. Afterwards, we continued to the Cape Saunders conservation area, a gorgeous and peaceful location, which is located on private land where only Elm Tours has access to. The area is mainly dedicated to the yellow-eyed penguins, the rarest penguin on the world with just about 400 birds living only in New Zealand (at the east coast of the South Island), but there are also fur seals, sea lions and little blue penguins. Scientist expect the yellow-eyed penguin to be extinct in ten years time from now, mainly because of not finding enough food and having no suitable habitats. The yellow-eyed penguins are actually considered a forest bird and need trees to build their nests under. The trees at Cape Saunders have been brought in by humans to create a habitat for the penguins. We started at the rocks where the fur seals live. How agile and playful they are! They are very active on the rocks and can climb up pretty well. Then, we went to the penguin and sea lion beach. The sea lions are not as active as the fur seals. Most of them were just lying on the beach or moving slowly towards and in the water. We were really lucky to see quite a few penguins. The first one was lying in a kind of puddle not moving. According to the guides that was quite unusual behavior and it might have been in trouble. They wanted to bring in a scientist to check whether the penguin needed to be taken to the wildlife hospital. We saw some more penguins walking and standing on the beach, as well as moving up the hill where their nests are. It is funny to watch them and also kind of affecting when you think about that these guys might not exist anymore in ten years time. I am glad, that I could see them, and with all the other wildlife we saw, it was just a great experience.Read more