Dassen Island

Dassen Island was named by Dutchman Van Spilbergen in 1601. He named it after the dassies which are said to have been abundant at the time. Early records also describe the island as being covered in two-metre-tall plants that were riddled with burrows where penguins bred.

In the mid 1840’s the guano from the island was removed for use in fertilisers. From 1870 until 1967 penguin eggs were exploited for public consumption. In 1919 it was recorded that almost 600,000 fresh eggs were collected from the island. It is estimated that the penguin population at the time would have been about 400,000. Due to this exploitation, the penguin population has been decimated and the African penguin is in danger of extinction.

It is the first of South African inshore islands to have a conservation plan that has been released publicly. It is an important sanctuary where several endangered seabirds breed. With access restricted, there is just a small jetty on the shore of the island with its otherwise untouched white narrow beaches. The flat and low-lying island measures about 3.1 km long northwest-southeast and 1 km wide, with an area of 2.73 km². It is a proclaimed nature reserve.

In the mid-17th century, the island was an outpost of the Dutch East India Company. Seals, birds and fish were caught. There were attempts at sheep, pig and rabbit farming but these were unsuccessful due to the shortage of fresh water. There is still a large population of now-wild rabbits which overgraze the  vegetation,

The African penguin numbers here have decreased significantly in the past 100 years. Years of guano collection have removed the material that penguins use to build their nests. Following the cessation of the guano collection, the next threat was the penguin egg industry. The buildings used by the guano scrapers became store hoses for eggs. It is estimated that 13 million eggs were collected in the years between 1900 and 1930. Egg collecting continued till it was banned in the 1960s The population of African penguins gas reduced from about a million to just 8000.

Check the tides here

-33°25’13.79″ S 18°05’3.00″ E