Kubu Island - Botswana

A small rocky island, whose name is derived from the Setswana word ‘Lekhubung’, meaning a rocky ridge, is studded with baobabs, and it has a very special atmostphere of its own.

These baobabs are a site of their own, touched with a red tinge the baobabs stand tall, strong and proud. They make their presence known by the sheer volume of their large trunks. Its isolation, the starkness of it setting against the blinding infinity of the feauresless pan, makes for a totally unique experience. Few who visit Kubu Island leave untouched by its magic. Near the survey beacon which marks its low summit, lies a ring of rolled pebbles that define an old lake shoreline. At 919m above sea level, it is one of the lower and probably more recent shorelines, created almost certainly within the last 20 000 years.

Kubu Island is also noted for its archaeological remains. Most obvious of these is a semi-circular stone wall on the south end of the island. The wall, with its deliberately constructed ‘loopholes’, is associated with the former ‘Khami state’. The wall may date to the late 17th and 18th century. Also on the island are more than 400 distinct circular stone cairns, each a meter or so across and up to 30 or 40cm high, constructed of easily-lifted stones. What these signify is unknown but present thinking suggesets that they mark places for initiation ceremonies. To the north end of Kubu, among the giant boulders of a granite outcrop, are remains of an Early Iron Age Village. The pottery and ostrich egg-shell beads are still abundant.

There is evidence that local people use the site as a rain shrine. Kubu Island is now controlled by the local community. There are staff on duty, a small fee is payable, and you are requested to respect what you see and hear.

Tongasabi Safaris visiting Kubu Island - Botswana: