"....animals come in from surrounding drylands to feed on its evergreen reedy fringes - populate the river with bream, catfish and pike, with hippos and a few crocodiles. Garnish it with water-lilies and watercress....": This is a description of Savute from three decades ago when the channel was flowing.
For those who know Savute only as a dry wilderness it is difficult to imagine this picture and many do not want to it this way as it destroys the image of the Savute of today - the image of a harsh and ancient wilderness. There is the other opinion, however, that it adds to the enigma that is Savute.
Elephants crossing the channel
After crossing the Magwikhwe Sandridge, the remnant wall of an ancient lake that choked and died as the continents split, the Mababe Depression stretches ahead into the distance. It is a place of rare beauty - a place of plenty during the rainy season and a place of seeming desolation during the dry season.
All rivers have a source, a major highland catchment area where water from rains or springs is collected and started off on a journey to an end, spilling into another river system, or into the ocean. The river is a source of life all along its journey.
There are the great rivers of Africa that are a constant source of life for the inhabitants and wildlife along their systems and there are the rivers that flow seasonally, holding water for as long as the rains dictate.
And then there is the Savute!
The course of the Savuti flows through ancient floodplains, signs of the area's watery past, and treacherous sands before reaching its destination at the Savute Marsh in a place known as the Mababe Depression. All along its journey through the wilderness it tantalizes but it is its destination that is legend.
For it almost seems that the Savute Marsh is at the end of the world, a place where there is no further.