Sacred Site
4/5
Kubu Island
Kubu Island, known locally by its indigenous Khoe name Ga'nnyo, is a surreal granite rock island rising out of the vast, white, blinding expanse of Sowa Pan in Botswana's Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Crowned with ancient, ghostly baobab trees and enclosed by prehistoric dry-stone walls and mysterious stone cairns dating to the Great Zimbabwe period, Kubu Island is revered as a sacred shrine by local Kalanga and Khoe peoples. Visitors frequently report haunting atmospheric phenomena, including phantom whispers in the wind, disembodied footsteps crunching across salt crusts, and eerie nocturnal light orbs, all attributed to ancestral spirits safeguarding the island's ancient secrets.