• E N
R O U T E
STJ 5.4
ADVENTURE
SPECIAL EDITION
SPRING 2019
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C O V E R
S T O R Y
HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY
KUBU ISLAND IS A SMALL, ROCKY OUTCROP ON THE EDGE OF THE MAKGADIKGADI PANS IN SOUTHERN BOTSWANA.
IT IS A SPECTACULAR ODDITY BUT HAS A PROFOUND EFFECT ON ALL WHO VISIT IT, AS AMI KAPILEVICH ATTESTS.
I am not a morning person, but as
I stand on the boulder at dawn, my
mind is sharp and alert. I am more
than awake – I am fully present in this
moment, concentrating on the vast
endlessness below.
There is a noticeable lack of early
birdsong here; the only sound is my
30 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
breath, heavy after the scramble to the
top. It is by no means a difficult climb, but
I had to hurry to beat the sun.
“If you stand at the top of Kubu Island
just before sunrise,” one of the returning
visitors said over the embers of a braai
the previous evening, “You can see the
curvature of the Earth.”
He was right.
From up here, across the unfathomable
distance of the Makgadikgadi Pan, the
horizon cuts not so much a line as a
glowing arc.
Soon my feeling of being in the
moment is replaced with something as
strange and ancient as this place itself. My