Lorraine Kelly flies to South Africa for the weekend just to see the penguins!

The Sunday Post columnist made the 12-hour flight to South Africa after her usual ITV morning appearance and was back in the UK in time for her show the following Monday.

She made the long journey to Cape Town to visit Penguins A&E, a specialist hospital caring for a hardy group of the flightless birds that live wild in the city.

“I went for the weekend,” Lorraine explained. “It seems mad to just go for a couple of days, but I had my show to film so I slept on the plane. The way the time difference works, you can do a day’s work once you get there.”

The Dundee presenter visited the hospital for a four-part documentary, Penguins A&E with Lorraine Kelly, which starts on Channel 5 next week.

“They wanted someone to do a voiceover and approached me – they had no idea of my love for penguins.

“I thought it was the best thing ever,” smiled Lorraine, who has a penguin named after her at London Zoo.

“I’ve loved them since I was tiny and have hundreds of penguin items – socks, toys, I even have a 5ft tall penguin in my garden that was made by the artist who did the penguin models at the Discovery in Dundee.”

Lorraine at a penguin rescue centre, Cape Town, South Africa

The African penguins live on Boulder Beach and, although there are rangers employed to care for them, they still find themselves in bother.

“The penguins wander on the road, lay eggs in people’s gardens, are attacked by dogs and get injured from rubbish left on the beach, so they’re whisked away to the A&E in an ambulance,” Lorraine explained.

“They are endangered and the reason it hasn’t reached a tipping point yet is because of Penguins A&E.

“It’s heartbreaking. They’re just little balls of fluff and you want to pick them up.

“But if they imprint on you they’ll follow you around for ever, so contact is kept to a minimum.

“One came in while I was there that had been tamed after living in someone’s garden.

“I named him Steve, after my husband, and he followed me everywhere. I wanted to put him in my handbag and bring him home!

“There are lots of stories to be told and they’re not all happy. One was attacked by a dog and lost an eye, but it’ll survive.

“The point is to get as many as possible returned to the wild, but there are around 30 who stay at the hospital because they’re too injured or tamed to go back.”

The A&E, which exists on donations, operates like a normal hospital with all of the technology you’d expect, like X-ray machines.

Lorraine added: “It was great to combine a passion with a project that’s doing good. I’ve wanted to do something like this for a while.

“There are a million stories to be told at Penguins A&E and it was a joy to do.”

Penguins A&E, Channel 5, May 10, 9pm.

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