I am not a morning person, but as I stand on the boulder (巨大的砾石) in the early dawn, my mind is sharp and alert. I am more than awake, concentrating on the vast endlessness below.
There is a noticeable lack of early birdsong here; no hiss of offshore wind fanning the waves. The only sound is my 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," said one of the returning visitors, "You can see the arc (弧线)of the Earth."
He was right.
From up here the horizon cuts not so much a line as an arc.
Soon my feeling of being in the moment is replaced with something as strange and ancient as this place itself. My breathing calms and becomes shallow. My heartbeat slows. I am first surrounded by in silence. I am a tiny, shrinking spot. Then I disappear completely.
They say that astronauts looking down on Earth gain a sense of perspective that changes them forever. They begin to understand how much we are a part of our planet, and how much it is a part of us. The astronauts are 400 kilometres off the surface of Earth, and while the top of Kubu Island is only 10 metres high, there is something about this pile of boulders that sends you into orbit.
Kubu Island isn't actually an island, but rather, an outcrop of ancient rocks that are up to two billions year old. It was once rested on the edge of a vast lake. As the water evaporated, it created the huge Makgadikgadi Pan (马卡迪卡迪盐沼盆地), one of the world's largest salt pans.
Ancient tribes and civilizations have migrated and lived here, first to fish from its rocks and then to commune with nature and its spirits. Today, adventurers and tourists come here to marvel at this strange pile of boulders with baobab trees (猴面包树) growing out of it. These trees are estimated to be 3,000 or 4,000 years old; they are really impressive not only for their size but also because they seem to have so much to tell about the history of this island.
This is the gift that Kubu Isand gives and the power that it has. This tiny, weird outcrop — if not in the middle of nowhere, then certainly on the edge of it — can give you a sense of yourself that very few places can. A sense of yourself as a person on this planet and, somehow, way beyond it.
