Kubu Island is a dry granite rock island located in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park area of Botswana. The name Kubu means hippopotamus in Tswana.[1] The island is located a few kilometers away from Orapa and Letlhakane mining towns and can be accessed through Mmatshumo in the Boteti district.
The entire island is a national monument, and is considered a sacred site by the indigenous people of the area.
It is accessible by four wheel drive vehicle and has basic camping facilities. The campsite is run for the benefit of the local population.
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson described the island as "just about the most astonishing place I've ever been" on the November 4, 2007 episode.
Natural history
The Makgadikgadi Pan is a large salt pan in northern Botswana, the largest salt flat complex in the world. These salt pans cover approximately 16,000 sq km and form the bed of the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi that began evaporating millennia ago. Archaeological recovery in the Makgadikgadi has revealed the presence of prehistoric man through abundant finds of stone tools; some of these tools have been dated sufficiently early to establish their origin as earlier than the era of Homo sapiens.[2]
References
- C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Makgadikgadi, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham [1]
- Kingsley Holgate. 2006. Africa. In the Footsteps of the Great Explorers. Struik publishers, ISBN 1770071474 (restricted online version (google books))
- Kubu Island in Botswana Travel Guide
- History of Kubu Island. 2009
Line notes
Coordinates: 20°53′35″S 25°49′08″E / 20.893°S 25.819°E
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