Count me among those who didn’t know South Africa has long been host to a species of penguin — fast disappearing over the last decade.
A century ago, at least 1.5 million African penguins waddled and swam the coasts of Namibia and South Africa. Today they are largely confined to a sprinkling of islands off South Africa’s tip, including Robben Island, well known as the site of Nelson Mandela’s long imprisonment. Experts say there are 120,000 of these penguins at most.