01 February 2011

Dassen Island, the penguins and a young woman who spend two years alone with them...

Dassen Island is an uninhabited island in the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated about 10km west of Yzerfontein and 55km north of Cape Town, about halfway between Table Bay and Saldanha Bay. With an area of 273ha, it is the second largest of the South African offshore islands. It is generally flat and sandy, apart from patches of exposed bedrock, and some areas strewn with huge granite boulders. At the turn of the century there were some 1,500,000 African penguins living on the island, while today only 26,000 breeding pairs remain. Dassen Island, managed by Cape Nature, is home to most of these remaining birds. It is a proclaimed Nature Reserve and not open to the public.


Animal Week - Penguins from Humanwire on Vimeo.

The video shows the work & life of Tribute "Birdie" Mboweni, a passionate young woman who lived alone on Dassen Island Nature Reserve for about 2 years. Tribute is back from the island and now a full-time student at Tshwane University of Technology. Kudos for your passionate work, Tribute!

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