Penguin Beach on WildEarth
September 28, 2021
WildEarth is launching a new daily experience on its channel. This real-time penguin experience will premiere on October 2nd at 8.30 am Central African/Central European Time and 7.30 am British Time followed by a repeat at 3.30 pm US Eastern Time for our American viewers.
Stony Point Nature Reserve is home to one of the largest successful breeding colonies of African Penguins in the world. Located in the quaint coastal town of Betty’s Bay in the Overberg, the Stony Point Nature Reserve offers the public the chance to see these wonderful flightless birds up close. A boardwalk through the colony allows the public to observe the penguins go about their daily activities in their natural habitat, without disturbing or disrupting them.
Together with Cape Nature and their penguin experts, WildEarth will be launching Penguin Beach on its channel. Penguin Beach is a daily one hour live experience with these penguins, where viewers can follow regular characters within this colony in real time and ask the experts questions via twitter and chat.
The mission is to offer this unique experience to viewers from all over the world but especially those who will never get to experience this for themselves. By using a one-camera unbroken feed, it gives the point of view of someone who is walking the boardwalk with the expert. The addition of being able to ask the expert questions in real time means that it faithfully recreates what it is like to actually be taking part in this experience physically.
Home to roughly 3600 African Penguins, the thriving African Penguin colony is a very sought after attraction. The penguins are active throughout the year with nesting season in February to April, hatching and rearing of young until October and moulting from November to January.
This brand new one of a kind LIVE experience on the WildEarth Channel will allow viewers to watch day in and day throughout the year, following specific characters as they grow from being newborns to fully fledged adults.
Two naturalists who are also penguin experts will be amongst the penguins at Stony Point and will engage viewers on what is happening each day. They will point out specific characters and be able to answer any questions.
We hope that Penguin Beach will become a must-see experience on the WildEarth Channel, just as our daily live safaris have come to mean so much to so many people around the world.” Emily Wallington, Co-Founder and head of Content of WildEarth said.
WildEarth is very privileged to have partnered with Cape Nature on this project. As custodian of the province’s natural environment, CapeNature is tasked with nature conservation and awareness, preserving biodiversity, and providing facilities for education, research and training. Through a variety of targeted programmes and projects, CapeNature staff strive to conserve the province’s natural heritage to ensure a sustainable future.
“Partnering with WildEarth, putting people at the centre of Stony Point in the comfort of their homes, is a unique and innovative way of connecting with the African penguin colony. Educating and inspiring people to appreciate and respect nature lies very close to CapeNature’s heart and we believe that this project will go a long way in doing just that,” said Petro van Rhyn, spokesperson of CapeNature.