We decided to do a day trip to the Kubu island today. Kubu island lies in the southwest of Sua Pan. When we were in the Third Bridge camp our neighbours Richard and Mary recommended it. Though we marked it in our list we were not so sure about it. But the more we read about it the more we became interested in going there. Moreover we didn’t have any other plans for today.
As usual I marked the necessary coordinates in my GPS. According to the maps, from the Maun – Nata highway there are two routes going south that we could take to go there. One about 24 kms before reaching Nata, and the other along the western edges of the Sua pan. The travel guide I had said that one should avoid using the route along the pan edge in the wet season as the track could become dangerously muddy. We decided to take the other route as the route along the pan edge was marked only in some of the maps that we had, making the route more suspicious.
In the morning we told the Dutch couple that we are going to the Kubu island and they could join us if they are interested. They were undecided, so I left them alone and didn’t bother about it much. Just before we were about to leave they came to us and said they would also like to join us. I thought it will be nice as the route is not supposed to be an easy one (driving to the pans is always going to be risky), and also if one of us get stuck the other could pull them out. And in this part of the world it is always safer to drive as a convoy than being alone.
The diversion towards the pans from the main highway was not easy to find as there were no signboards at all. I used the coordinates in my GPS to figure out the track. Once we found the track, which we were not so sure at all in the beginning, it was just a matter of blindly driving south. It was really a tricky and challenging one, esp for novice 4x4 drivers like us. First of all there is no designated route. We found routes all over the place mostly due the previous drivers having tried to avoid undrivable routes. The landscape changed quite often from gravel tracks, grassy routes, marsh, bush lands etc. and that too filled up with puddles. Most of the time we had to drive around to avoid suspicious puddles and then try to figure out the right route and direction ahead. Without the GPS it would have been impossible as most of the time I drove blindly in the direction shown by the GPS towards the next waypoint in the GPS.
I am sure the Dutch couple was having second thoughts after some time. When we took a break in between they came to us and asked whether we are lost. I just told them “Probably! I am not so sure, but the direction looks good”. Not so comforting answer, I know. But that was really the truth. The route was really challenging one, completely exhausting and without any signboards! From the highway the Kubu island is about 70-80 km down south. It took around 4 hrs for us to cover it. It was one hell of a ride. There were some patches of pan that we had to cover and it was so filled with water that if we were alone we would have never attempted to cross it I think. Since we were travelling in a convoy I told the Dutch couple to stop and wait till we have crossed and move only when we have completely crossed the section. I wanted to be absolutely sure that if we get stuck the other should be in a position to pull us out or vice versa.
We somehow made it to the Kubu island by noon. Once we reached there it was absolutely clear for all of us that all the risk that we have taken to reach there was worth. It was an absolutely beautiful place to be. Kubu island is an isolated granite outcrop of around 1 km long and about 10 m high. Evidence of the former lake could be found there in the form of fossil beaches of wave rounded pebble. With three sides of complete emptiness around and covered with baobabs, it has a unique beauty to it, and it was breath taking to see it. When I stood on the one of the rocks there all I could see was complete emptiness with the clouds meeting the salt pans at the horizon. I tried to walk into the pans a little bit. Within few meters the dangers were clearly evident. The ground was wet and sinking and the surface underneath the salt layer was clayey which stuck to the sandals like glue. Think about what will happen if one tries to drive through it.
We spend about an hour there and we could see the storm clouds accumulating on the route we came in. We decided to drive back before it gets converted into rains. Especially the stretches were we have to drive through the pan. But we were not so lucky. About half an hour after we stared it poured heavily. I could hardly see through the windscreen. And with water all over the place there was no clear tracks to drive into which made the trip more difficult. It was a nightmare drive as I was not sure to know whether the route I am driving into is a good or bad one. When we rode over the muddy tracks accidently the car was floating all over the place making the drive more and more risky. While trying to keep the momentum to avoid getting stuck in the mud we drove over obstacles that sounded like the car is getting broken into pieces. Again it was a completely blind driving absolutely guided by the direction pointed by the GPS, ie. just drive north!!!! Never in my life had I driven like that before. I felt like I am participating in rallying.
While struggling to keep the car moving ahead through the rain and the mud we came across a track which was completely different from the one that we came in. We realised that it is a different route as we started seeing some rudimentary sign boards towards Kubu island. From the GPS the route ran parallel to the one that we drove before. After some time the rain stopped and the weather became clear. We started seeing the endless grassy pan on our right side. We realised that this is the second route to the Kubu island that runs through the edges of the Sua pan. Though the travel guides suggested that one should avoid this route in the wet season we found it perfectly alright for driving to the island. It was in a much better condition and lot easier to drive than the one we took to reach Kubu island.
The Dutch couple also made it along with us without any bad experiences. In the end we covered the distance to the camp in less than 3.5 hours. The onward trip took us around 4.5 hours. We were completely exhausted at the end of the day. It was a really good day, adventurous, challenging and extremely lucky. We were really glad that we decided to do the trip to the Kubu Island today.
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