At Tanganyika Wildlife Park, you can meet penguins during Penguin Weekend. This event is a great opportunity for penguin lovers and families to learn about these animals and their habitats. You’ll also have a chance to take part in a penguin feeding and a special penguin encounter. While learning more about our conservation efforts to protect African Penguins and their environment.
Click here and help us celebrate Penguin Weekend and raise money for their conservation!
On April 30th and May 1st, Tanganyika Wildlife Park we’ll be hosting the annual Penguin Weekend – a celebration of all things penguin! We’ll have a ton of different activities for penguin lovers of all ages including multiple penguin encounters with the opportunity to meet a penguin! All proceeds raised from penguin-specific activities that weekend will go to Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT). Tanganyika is matching every penny that you donate, so one dollar spent equals two dollars sent to help wild penguins! Last year, we raised almost $5,000 to send to DICT and we want to help even more penguins this year!
Don’t forget to purchase your admission tickets! Season pass holders, we don’t want you to miss out on the penguin fun, so make sure to reserve your entry time as well.
Meet Penguins at Tanganyika Penguin Weekend
So how can you get involved with Penguin Weekend? I’m glad you asked because there are so many activities going on that weekend! Our schedule is the same on Saturday and Sunday, so here’s a rundown of what you can expect!
Penguin-themed games and crafts
In our Splash Park Courtyard, we’ll have some awesome penguin-themed games and craft take-home kits available all day. Plus, if you ever wanted to see what a penguin egg looks like, take a peek at their feathers after they molt, or hold a penguin footprint in your hand, you’ll have your chance! While the kids are playing, the grown-ups can head over to the Thirsty Sloth for our Penguin Weekend special frozen cocktail, the Capelin Cooler. Named after our penguins’ favorite fish, proceeds from drink sales will go to DICT (and there are no ACTUAL fish in the cocktail – we promise!).
All your penguin questions answered
If you’ve ever wanted to meet a Penguin Ambassador up close, our expert keepers will be answering questions (and letting our penguins steal the spotlight) for ambassador appearances in TMC at 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 3:00 pm each day. And if you have little ones, you’ll want to make your way to the Courtyard at 11:30 am or 2:30 pm for the Juvenile Jive Dance Party – get your wiggles out and meet one of our juvenile penguins!
Inside TMC, we’ll be raffling off some great penguin-themed items including amazing art and other products made by some of our team members. You can even enter to win the chance to name one of our penguin chicks! We’ll also have some exclusive Penguin Weekend merchandise, including these gorgeous hand-made wooden penguin puzzles. And we’ll be (symbolically) adopting penguins all weekend long. You won’t want to miss it!
Hand feed a penguin at Tanganyika
Our public Penguin Feeding will be going on at 2:00 pm, and for $10 per person, you can help us feed our penguins. Or join us from 1:30 to 2:30 and get an exclusive photo with a penguin for $10 per group. Both feeding and photos require advance reservation. And round out your day at 3:30 by watching one of our penguins create a beautiful painting (well, as beautiful as it can be when you paint with your feet…) and enter a raffle to win that work of art!
If you can’t tell already, there’s a LOT to do during Penguin Weekend. But wait! There’s more! We also have several experiences available for those of you that want to further support African Penguins and DICT. At 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, join a keeper and a penguin friend for a Penguin Meet and Greet or have the chance to help feed some of our penguin chicks at 3:00 pm. And, exclusive to Penguin Weekend, we’ll be holding a 12:30 pm Conservation Behind the Scenes Tour where you’ll get to see our penguin breeding area! All of these experiences are both amazing and limited.
CTA: Make the most of your Penguin weekend, click here, and book your tickets for experiences now!
How does Tanganyika Wildlife Park help the African Penguin conservation efforts
While Tanganyika Wildlife Park successful African Penguin breeding program has bolstered the population of African Penguins in human care, these birds need our help in the wild too!
Unfortunately, these feathered favorites are threatened due to a variety of factors including oil spills, depleted prey populations from overfishing, and lingering effects from guano scraping (removing the feces they build their nests out of for fertilizer production). The biggest reason for the decline in African Penguins is humans. Some estimates say that African Penguins could be functionally extinct in the wild by 2035 if we don’t step in to help them!
And this is were Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) steps in, by working with many marine species off the coast of South Africa and Namibia. Here at Tanganyika, we directly support their African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary, which rehabilitates and releases penguins and other seabirds.
If you’re looking for a fun and educational weekend activity, be sure to check out Tanganyika Wildlife Park’s Penguin Weekend. You’ll have the chance to learn all about these fascinating creatures and their habitats, as well as take part in some special activities. And don’t forget to purchase your admission tickets for the penguin weekend at Tanganyika and book all the fun activities we have prepared for you.
