Stony Point Nature Reserve is home to the world's third-largest breeding colony of African penguins, and has succeeded in increasing the number of breeding pairs. Stony Point Nature Reserve is located in the coastal town of Betty's Bay in South Africa's Overberg region, on a former whaling station site. In 2021, it was home to around 1,600 breeding pairs of African penguins.
This is the bay where you'll see penguins swimming and strolling along the beach. Three species of cormorant are also present in the colony; the crowned cormorant, the cape cormorant and the shoal cormorant, all of which breed on the outer rocks. There are also Hartlaub's and Dominican gulls feeding in the colony, while the Daman, more commonly known as the Dassie, can be seen on the surrounding rocks.
Threats to seabirds and penguins breeding in this colony include the dramatic decline in pelagic fish stocks and competition with commercial fishing, predation by terrestrial predators such as mongoose, caracal and leopard.