Kubo Island - Botswana

We had heard a lot about Kubo Island and by all accounts it was a magical spot which stayed in the memory long after you left.  Situated on the edge of the Soa Pan, the largest of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Kubo has a special spiritual significance for the Motswana.

When we lived in Botswana we had never met anyone who  could explain how to get there. The only people we had heard of who had been there had flown in in a small private plane, landed on the pan, spent the night under the stars then taken off again the following morning - it seemed it was that sort of place.

By the time we had taken some last photo's and filled up with water at Matswere we didn't leave the CKGR until 1pm which meant we would have to push it if we were to reach Kubu that day. Our route would take us back on the dirt road to Rakops then on a very bad tar road to a village called Mopipi, then on a better tar road to a village called Lethlakane where we would need to re-stock and fill the fuel tanks. From here we would head cross country to Mmatshomo, the last village before you head out across the grass plains towards the Soa salt pan and Kubo.

It was 5pm by the time we left Lethlakane and by now a racing certainty we could not reach Kubu before dark. Neither Lethlakane and Mmatshomo are places you would choose to stay so to avoid becoming a tourist attraction for the village we decided to get as far past Mmatshomo as we could then bush camp for the night. Luckily in Botswana with its low population this is still possible, further North in Central and East Africa you virtually have no chance of bush camping without being surrounded by curious locals.

By the time we found a likely place it was pitch dark, we had put about 20km between us and Mmatshomo so unless anyone came along in a vehicle it was unlikely we would be bothered, however you never quite know what's around when you bush camp in the dark.

We lit a fire and enjoyed sausage baps garnished with onions and HP sauce for dinner. It was very quiet but around 9pm we saw car lights approaching from the direction where we gauged Kubu to be. The lights came and went as the vehicle wound along the track but eventually an old pickup came bumping along with a load of Motswana (collective term for Botswanan's). They were on their way to Mmatshomo but stopped to check we were ok, out here if you see a vehicle stopped, especially in a remote area, you check all's ok.

Next morning we were up early and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise, with daylight we could now see we were camped near to an old cattle post which thankfully was deserted although there was plenty of evidence that cattle had recently been there.

After a lovely drive across the grasslands we reached Kubo at 9am, the last part of the journey crossing part of the Soa Pan itself. Soa is huge and when wet can play host to thousands of Flamingo's but you need to be very careful when crossing these massive salt pans, especially if there has been any rain, even in the dry season we would be wary crossing all of Soa in a single vehicle.

Like a ship at sea Kubo stands out in the great white flatness that is Soa. Although less than a mile long (you can walk around it in less than an hour) it's location and the way the light catches the rocks and the Baobab trees that are dotted all over the island make it special. Baobabs anywhere are special but here they are a beautiful bronze colour which when contrasted against the grey rock formations make them even more atmospheric. It is easy to see why Kubo holds a special spiritual influence for the Motswana. 

In the old days Kubo would have been totally deserted for most of the year but now as its reputation grows the local community have woken up to its commercial benefits and have set up a number of campsites on the island and a few of them take turns living on the island ensuring the tourists pay their dues and running a nice little side line in providing fire wood.

The campsites are spread out along two sides of the island, half are under lovely huge Baobab trees with views across the grass plains, whilst the others are more open in the rocky outcrops with views across Soa Pan. Being the first visitors of the day we had the choice of the whole place and chose to camp at the first site you reach after driving in across the grass plain. This site is under the biggest Baobab on the Island and it was unlikely we would ever get a better chance to camp legally under one of these massive trees and whilst we could not see the pan, the view across the grass plain was a joy.

Kubo is a great place to chill and unless you want to brave the pan there is no real reason to drive as there is very little game about so we decided to take it easy and put up the roof tent.  We went for a sundowner walk around the Island which being on our own was very atmospheric, arriving back at camp to watch the sunset with a cold G&T.

Having said this there are practical issues to consider one being the need to charge the battery running the fridges so the next afternoon we went for a drive to see what lay to the North of the island. We had not gone far when we started to notice a strong burning smell, one of our greatest fears is having a vehicle fire which is especially a very real risk when driving through long grass.

Only a few months ago Barry & Yvonne our friends in Nelspruit had shown us photo's of their Landrover which had totally burnt out in less than five minutes on a trip through the Kalahari.  All they had left of the vehicle was a small piece of melted metal and photo's of it burning. Luckily they were with another vehicle so they got out in one piece but we are nearly always on our own so we have to be extra vigilant.

Jumping out we checked all underneath and inside the engine but couldn't see a thing wrong. The smell was strongest in the back seats so my next worry was the fridge was overheating but that was fine, shit what was it! The heat behind the fridge was terrific then I found the cause, behind the fridge we have a 12v socket which we can plug into and we had left one of our spotlights plugged in but switched off. Somehow this had switched itself on and the heat from the lens had already burnt through the plastic cover, left any longer and god knows what could have happened, we had been very lucky!

Kubo is so relaxing we decided to stay on another day, in the morning we climbed to the highest point on the Island which is not very high. There is no definite path so you are mostly scrabbling over boulders. We had hardly seen much wildlife so far but as we wandered through the trees suddenly a huge bird flew off, it was a spotted Eagle owl, one of the largest Owl's in Africa with a wingspan of four foot or so. Normally they are grey in colour but this was the much rarer rufus version, which we had never seen before. Each time we tried to get close enough for a photo it flew off to another spot where it would be mobbed by crows and hornbills, we never got our shot but it was great to see anyway.

That day more people turned up to camp but thankfully decided to camp on the other side of the island so we were able to retain our solitude for our last night.

Kubo had been a really special place but it was time to head back to Maun, we needed  to prepare for our return to the UK in early July and still had to drive up to Zambia as were flying out of Livingstone. We decided not to return to Maun via the way we came as that would take too long, instead we would traverse the Soa and its sister salt pan Ntwetwe, until we reached Gweta a big village on the main tar road from Nata to Maun, a distance of about 100 miles across the salt pans and the grasslands. 

The drive across the pans and grasslands was stunning and thankfully straightforward, we reached Gweta at 1pm where we still had 120 miles or so to Maun but at least we were now on tar so would be there in a few hours. By 4pm we were safely back in our chalet at the Island Safari lodge where we could enjoy a hot shower and a drink before dinner.

Next day we were up early, we needed to get stuff into the laundry and now we had regained power I wanted to do a bit on the journal before heading into town and the internet cafe. People think a trip like ours is all sitting in the sun drinking beer and G&T's, well it is sometimes.. but it also takes a lot of hard work to keep up with the logistics of ensuring you have all you need to survive.

Prior to leaving Botswana for the last time we decided to spend a couple of days at Ihaha in the Chobe. Our stay there with Ruth and J had been marred by me being ill so as we had the time we thought we would re-visit on the way to Zambia. We planned to stay over the period 28th-30th June but when we got to the parks booking office we were amazed to find all the campsites where booked as where the ones in Savuti and Moremi. It turned out it is a public holiday in South Africa so they had booked all the sites up, all we could get was a site at Ihaha for the 30th only and then just for that night still it was better than nothing.

This meant we would have to re-think our plans but first we needed to get Rupert looked at. I had noticed oil splashes near to the vacuum pump but it was difficult to say whether it was the pump or the hoses below it. I hoped it was not the pump as a new one was going to cost about £300 out here, Bruce at Leshedi gave the engine a good clean and we decided to bring it back in the next day to see what was what.

Next job was to get Rup washed, which is not so easy in a country like Botswana where water is a scarce resource, there are not many jet washes or auto car washes here! We eventually found some guys who had a jet wash who did a great job of washing the whole car for 25 pula (£2.50) whilst we had a Latte in a nearby cafe.

Checking emails we find one from our letting agents telling us our tenants have stopped paying the rent with two months still to go on the tenancy! Great just what we need just as we are about to lose email contact again! It takes ages doing emails anyway as we like to use the laptop to down load them into Outlook so we can see them off line however Outlook won't let you send emails if your not connected to your ISP so we have to cut and paste each one into web mail to reply, if anyone knows any way you can get around this then I would be grateful if you could let me know.

Back bright and early at Leshedi the next day we were relieved to find it looked like the oil leak was coming from one of the integral clamps on the hoses. This was better than it being the pump but these hoses are not held as spares so Leshedi had to send them out to a specialist to get new clamps fitted to the old hoses, a job which took all day! 

We had hoped to head off the next day but that didn't look like it was going to happen as we still had shopping to do and needed to check what was happening with the tenants we had no choice but to stay another day in Maun.

We still had to sort out a replacement inverter but decided after looking at the limited options in Maun to hold off and get one in the UK where we would also send the faulty one to Foleys so after getting fuel and restocking the fridges we were finally ready to head off to another place we had long wanted to visit - the sacred bushman site in the remote North West of Botswana called Tsodilo Hills.