Floodwaters from Queensland's record-breaking autumn rain are flowing into the usually dry 9500sq km salt lake in South Australia, from the Warburton, Cooper and Diamantina river systems.
Pilot Trevor Wright, who owns Wrightsair in William Creek, said it is the biggest flood he'd seen in his 32 years there, "and I have no hesitation in saying that we're going to see a sight with the lake we haven't seen in many decades".
What really struck Mr Wright and others was the volume of water and its speed.
"This is really different from anything we've had in the past, because it's been a much later season, temperatures have dropped dramatically, so you're not getting the evaporation rate caused by heat or wind and (the lake) will hold water much better."
There were hundreds of tourists in William Creek, which is 820km north of Adelaide, "and I think there'll be tens of thousands of people coming up here to experience it", Mr Wright said.
Floodwaters cover the lake once every eight years on average, but it has only filled to capacity three times in the last 160 years.
The largest recorded filling of the lake was in 1974 when it reached a depth of 6m, and Mr Wright believed this event could rival it.
He said the Cooper Creek flow rates at the Nappa Merrie Bridge, near the Queensland border, had reportedly surpassed the 1974 flow rates, before the recording equipment stopped operating.
Amid an explosion of life and vegetation, the filling lake is a magnet for migratory birds including pelicans, cormorants, ibises, egrets, spoonbills, ducks and native hens.
"The fishing will be incredible," Mr Wright said.
The lake could potentially host an estimated 5.5 million birds, including 55 varieties of wading birds, and Mr Wright believed there was potential for three nestings of pelicans, which hadn't been seen since 1974.
"What it will do for the bird life, plant life, insects, everything, is incredible, and it'll last into next year."
Locals were excited because they had been expecting a dramatic downturn this year, he said.
"No one expected this much rain and it's a godsend," he said.
As much of southern Australia battles drought, Mr Wright said he "really feels for" the farmers.
"There's just such a disparity," he said.
Mr Wright has employed eight extra pilots to help handle the influx of tourists, and he's also bought the Cessna Caravan which adventurer Dick Smith used to twice circumnavigate the globe.
A new management plan for Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, released in February, bans recreational access to the lakebed, including walking.
Visitors can view the lake from the air and at areas such as the Halligan Bay Point Campground.
Traditional owners, the Arabana people, were granted native title over land covering most of the lake in 2012.
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