Albeit most people consider the panhandle as starting at Mohembo, the feature really begins upstream in the Mahango Game Reserve from where it extends south to the Gumare Fault. The Okavango River has been the main life support system of the Okavango and Ngamiland communities (region) since time immemorial. The river has been flowing perennially for as long as the local people can remember.Since the late 1980s, the flow of the river started to reduce until early 1990s. Theories have been postulated but the fact is the flow of the river has reduced dramatically. This is because most of the water flow is along a single meandering channel surrounded by broad area of marshes dominated by papyrus and reeds. Relative to the adjacent floodplains, the water level of the river becomes progressively elevated down the panhandle, rising to about 60 centimeters higher than the surrounding swamps at the end of the panhandle.
This is because each year, an estimated 170 000 tones of sand is carried down from the Angolan catchments into the delta through the river where it settles on the bottoms or beds of channels. This simple process of deposition is the main reason why flows switch from one direction or channel to another. The sand is largely rolled along the channel floors as so-called bed-load, and then settles once the speed of water flow is too slow to carry it further. The accumulating sand raises the levels of channels, further reducing rates of flow and allowing more sand to settle. Papyrus growth also encroaches on the channels as water speeds drop, bringing the flow of water to a stop and eventually blocking the channels completely. To the community removing the weed will be the solution, as ecologically that will be interfering with nature and recommend "let nature take its course". One philosopher once said the past influence the present and the present influences the future. While we stand the test of time debating nature, evolution proceeds.
