Submitted by SafariADV on Wed, 2017-09-27
Early this morning, we admire a spectacularly warm dawn that only Africa can give, we have breakfast and then we greet our British neighbors living in South Africa and we go; today we go on the track that from Kubu, or Lekhubu, Island leads up to A3, the road connecting Maun to Francistown.
Actually, from Kubu Island seem to start more tracks heading North but care must be taken as some lead to nothing, others may lead to wet areas of the Sowa or Sua Pan; before leaving it is always better to ask the ranger for the conditions of the various tracks, yesterday, for example, an off-road coming from the North was mired and it took 4 hours to get it out of the mud.
We go and leave Kubu Island behind, we stop taking some more photographs and then see it disappear into the rearview mirrors of our car; we will definitely come back because its magical atmosphere has charmed us and has caught our heart.
There are three main tracks leading North.
The Easternmost track is perhaps the most adventurous, Tracks4Africa indicates it is muddy, runs inside the Sua Pan, it is scenic but risky, especially this year that it rained a lot during the rainy season.
A second track is in the West and runs along the Ntwetwe Pan; at some point this track splits, a branch goes North and the other crosses the pan, heading North-West, coming directly to Gweta, here too the risk of finding the mud is high.
Then, there is the central track, that is the one we drive through, it is in a somewhat higher position in the only piece of land that is between the Sua, or Sowa, Pan and the Ntwetwe Pan; this road passes through the traditional villages.
Following this track from Kubu Island to the A3 we travel about 90km, but the average speed to which we can drive is 40km/h, we also stopped several times to take pictures and even get some coffee in the middle of nowhere; around us there was only a few bushes, dry, yellow grass and, in the distance, the Sua Pan.
What a road!
We take 4 hours to get on the A3, we took it with extreme calm to better enjoy the trip; once we get to the paved road we already miss the off-road, but there is no problem, tomorrow we expect other trails and other dust!
