How tens of thousands of wildlife which used to be the residents of the Savute River perished there when it dried up in 1980, is best captured in the film, The Forgotten River by Derek and Beverly Joubert'.

At the time the river dried up mysteriously forcing the wildlife, including hippos to try to journey back to the Chobe/Linyanti river, with many of them perishing on the way.

After 30 years is this another deceptive sound of death calling in order to claim more wild animals, or just the gods of the Kalahari remembering these desert creatures?

Historical records show that the Savute River, or the Savute Channel, has a habit of flowing and then drying for decades, wiping out wildlife along its banks in the process.

Is it Charles Darwin's process of natural selection - perhaps one way of nature controlling the soaring wildlife population in the environment to a manageable proportion in the ecosystem?

How the Savute gets its water has remained mystery even to scientists. For instance, there has been countless times when the Savuti River was flooding but its water would never flow into the  so-called channel measuring over 100km before it ends into the  marshes of the  Mababe Depression.

What is clear today, however, is that after 30 years of lying dead deep in the Kalahari Desert, the once vibrant  Savute River, which feeds from  the Chobe/ Linyanti River is alive and calling again to multiples of wildlife species to perch, play, and make its waters  and environs their homes again.

And the wildlife species are responding to the call in a big way, according to tour operators with camps along the Savuti River.

Alice  Crowe, the assistant operations manager  at Orient  Express Safaris, which runs  a camping facility along the Savuti Channel  tells Monitor that  the Savute River came to  life on  January 4 this year when they woke up to sights of  floods. " Now we see  our camp is overlooking the river, which is a really nice view. It is exciting to have  water  flowing  in after  so many years...there is a lot more game coming down to  the river  now, in fact they are coming down right in front of our camp," Crowe said.

Crowe and his tourists guests also celebrating the return of  new wildlife species such  the fish eagle, pride king fishers, the egrets,  wadding birds like the swan, while  the number of the common species has vastly increased.

It is now a matter of time before hippos, crocodiles, let alone fish, also start re-appearing in the   Savute River, which is now heading towards the marshes of the Mababe Depression where it empties its waters.

Records show that the Savute Channel and the marsh dried up during the 1880s. Explorer and missionary Dr David Livingstone commented, on his way to discovering the 'Mosi O'Tunya' (Victoria Falls) in 1851 that it was a "dismal swamp".

The Channel remained dry until the summer of 1957-58 when heavy rains in the catchment area of the Angolan highlands re-flooded the Chobe River system and the Channel flowed once again until 1966. Its irregular flowing pattern continued until 1981, when the channel seemed to dry up completely and be lost forever.

For now, however, it is flood and more flood at the Savute Channel, according to one of the tour operators Craig Lamb, the general manager at Desert & Delta Safaris, which is also situated along the Savute Channel.

And he says their Angolan and Namibian counterparts have warned them of more floods into the channel. In fact he says their marketing manager in Europe is now busy marketing this rare gigantic sight of the Savute Channel flowing again.

Lamb says they would also be raving about this rarity at the Germany World Tourism Expo as well as the South African World Tourism Expo to woo overseas travellers.

" For now we foresee that water is going to be here for sometime, and we are glad to have more and more game and wildlife species here", said Lamb sounding quite happy, although he confesses the floods have also made crossing the channel into their camp a bit difficult. Now they need a bridge to cross the river.

Yes, for now it is the mystery of water, and water everywhere at the Savute Channel before nature at the opportune time yet again treats wildlife film-makers to another amazing story of calamity as the river, just like it has been the case In the past, engages in a killing spree; drying up and starving animals to death.