The penguins needed lavender. Cape Town showed up with all the purple goodness to fill their nests.
Cape Town, South Africa (19 August 2026) – The people of Cape Town have rallied behind the resident penguins at SANCCOB’s rehabilitation centre, this time donating all the lavender needed for their nests!
Less than a month ago, SANCCOB put out a call to the public, asking anyone with lavender growing in their garden to consider making a donation so that its resident penguins could build their nests with their favourite material.
This week, the centre shared that, thanks to an incredible outpouring of purple love, the African penguins at its rehabilitation facility now have all the lavender their hearts could desire. Just imagine how relaxed they are in their nests.
“Thanks to your incredible generosity, our penguins have all the lavender they need to build their nests, and our home pen birds are already enjoying their cozy new homes,” SANCCOB wrote.
The appreciation came with happy snaps of Edgar enjoying the lavender!
The centre also clarified that the lavender is used in-house by its penguin patients and is not intended for natural colonies, which have ample materials available in the wild to build their nests.
“Please note that the requests for lavender are not intended for natural colonies, for example Stony Point, but for our permanent penguins at SANCCOB rehabilitation centre. They love using it as nesting material.”
While the penguins have all they need to build their cosy nests, SANCCOB appreciates any form of support in its mission to protect the critically endangered African penguin.
“But nesting season isn’t over just yet! There are still plenty of ways to support our resident and rescue seabirds and the vital conservation work happening at SANCCOB.”
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TEARS Brings Animal Care Lessons to Life in Local Primary Schools‘Adopting’ an African penguin contributes towards the fees needed to keep operations running. If you’d like to get involved in more hands-on work, the centre also runs volunteer and internship programmes. Follow this link to find out more!
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