Day 5 - 18 May 2016 Lekhubu Island to Kubu Lodge, Kasane

Day's trip schedule

Lekhubu Island -> Nata -> Pandamatenga -> Kasane

Distance & time taken

419 km
5 1/2hrs

Accommodation

Kubu Lodge (www.kubulodge.net)
between Kasane & Kazangula on the A33






Trip Notes

Awoke with my throat still not in good shape - got up in the middle of the night for some painkillers which seemed to relieve the issue for a while allowing me to get some more sleep.  Probably a good thing we were heading out of the pans into a more moderate climate.  We decided that we would overnight in Kasane & take things from there.

One of the many Baobabs on Kubu Island

Green-Winged Pytilia

Again the birdlife was abundant in the morning & we had another 2 first sightings:

• Green-winged Pytilia
• Orange-breasted Waxbill

After packing up & having a light cereal breakfast, we took a drive around the island again, stopped off at a few of the sights, took some photos & the put the nose in the direction of the twospoor north.

This twospoor was a little over 60kms long with some sections of deep soft sand & high grass on the sides sometimes even obstructing the view out from the side windows.  There was one section where the GPS said for us to go straight on but we would have ended up in the front room of some poor villagers house - a village looks to have been built where the track had been previously.  I guess the residents must get a few close calls every now-and-again.


We got to Nata by 12h00 & then turned left onto the A33 highway.  It is roughly 300kms from Nata to Kasane with the first 200 in good condition - Pandamatenga to Kasane is littered with potholes & requires extra attention.  The advantage of this highway is that the treeline has been moved some distance away in order that you can take appropriate action if an elephant or other wild animal drifts across the highway.  We had some very good sightings on this road of elephant, giraffe, buffalo & kudu.  The interesting observation along this section of road is that the car / truck wrecks from previous accidents are not removed from the scene.  What is left of them, after the salvagers have taken whatever they can, is pushed off the road to the edge of the treeline - some 30m away.

We arrived in Kasane after 3pm & I headed straight to the pharmacy for more meds to remedy the throat - walked out with my pockets lighter to the tune of P200 & replaced with a few tabs & spray to get me right.  We now started looking for places to camp for the night.  Both Chobe Safari Lodge & Thebe Lodge were fully booked so we had to wend our way back towards Kazangula & managed to get a site at Kubu Lodge.  There was another option (Senyati Safari Camp) about 20kms out of Kasane back on the Nata road but this didn't front onto the Chobe River so we decided to remain closer to town.


Kubu Lodge has 7 sites reasonably close to the river but their primary focus is the lodge with a good restaurant & bar.  You can get wifi in the reception area but the connectivity is not great.  Although the river is only about 10m from the campsite, you can't see it due to the dense bush.  The only campers were 2 Australian youngsters camping opposite us.  The campsite is adequate & the ablutions reasonable but we had a challenge with the braai - the grids had been welded onto the braai making it difficult to get the wood placed properly for burning & secondly, adjusting height based on temperature fro cooking.  We decided to spend only 1 night here & try the other options closer to Kasane again in the morning as we wanted to do a sundowner cruise into the park the following afternoon


Costs for the day

Accommodation

Kubu Lodge

BWP174,00

View of Sua Pan from Kubu Island