All language subtitles for BBC Earths Great Rivers Series 1 (1of3) Amazon

Earth's great rivers...

..from source to sea...

..make extraordinary journeys...

CRACKING

..carving through continents...

..nurturing ancient civilisations...

..feeding and connecting life
across our world...

ROARING

..from the mountains and
deserts of the Nile...

..to the cities and mysterious
swamps of the Mississippi...

..and the steaming waters
and the secret worlds

of the tropical Amazon.

Great rivers are the lifeblood
of planet Earth.

One river dwarfs all others.

The biggest on the planet.

The Amazon.

It flows through nine countries
across one third of South America...

..sustaining the largest rainforest
on Earth...

..supporting the world's
greatest diversity of wildlife...

..inspiring vibrant cultures.

THUNDER RUMBLES

The Amazon's annual floods
are so vast...

..they create what seems
to be an inland sea.

Even today,
it hides mysterious worlds.

To explore the unknown

and experience
the mightiest river on Earth...

..the story begins
with a single drop.

The glaciers of the Peruvian Andes.

Here, glacial meltwater
tumbles down the mountainsides,

the start of a 4,000-mile journey
to the sea.

On lower slopes,
where the humid air from below

meets the cold, mountain atmosphere,

cloud forests thrive,
shrouded in mist.

Tiny plants create hanging gardens
on the branches of ancient trees...

..condensing the water vapour
into sparkling droplets.

GENTLE PLOPPING

All around is the sound of
the Amazon coming to life.

TRICKLING WATER

The Amazon is the greatest
river basin in the world

gathering water from right across
tropical South America,

amassing one fifth of
the Earth's fresh water,

as it flows east
across the continent.

Its 1,100 tributaries drain an area
of nearly 2.5 million square miles.

And one remote stretch of
white-water rapids

and deep, dark pools

is home to one of its largest
and rarest predators.

GRUNTING AND CHIRPING

Giant river otters.

Some nearly two metres long.

This family are exploring
a new territory,

a stretch they are keen to claim.

SPLUTTERING

Led by dad, the family
follow his calls

with a chorus that is unique
to their group.

PURRING

They are looking
for a spot rich in fish.

Now, the parents can teach
their young how to hunt.

It will be a testing time
for the most inexperienced cub.

SQUEALING

GROWLING

Father coordinates
the hunting party.

Because fish can evade otters
in the deep water,

the family's best chance
is to corral the fish

up against the bank.

This youngster has missed out.

Everyone seems to have a fish
but him.

MEOWING

Luckily, the others are usually
generous enough to share.

Which won't impress Father.

GROWLING

It takes three years
for an otter cub

to master the complexities
of fishing in these rivers.

The remote headwaters of the Amazon

have an unpredictable
and dangerous reputation.

Many call currents and rapids
like these "boat breakers".

And there are accounts
of early European explorers

disappearing without a trace.

These upper reaches are home
to legendary river monsters...

..electric eels capable of
generating more than 500 volts...

..enormous pacus,
some up to 25 kilos in weight...

..and giant anacondas,

amongst the largest snakes
in the world.

Some of these Amazon headwaters
are so inaccessible,

they conceal mysteries
that are only now being revealed.

On the bank of
one distant tributary,

the forest conceals
a rare treasure.

A pool of crystal-clear water.

With strange, bubbling sand...

..this pool is in fact a spring.

Rising from deep underground,

the water is filtered...

..leaving it as spotless
as an aquarium.

With such clean, pure water,
it's a perfect nursery...

..tempting out of the murky river,

a pair of cichlids,

so new to science

that this particular species
doesn't even have a name.

This couple are here
to raise their family...

..a brood of 100 tiny fry.

Cichlids form strong bonds
with their partners

and are as loyal to their babies
as they are to each other.

This family seems to have found
their perfect home.

But out here,
danger is never far away.

Between the clear, spring waters
and the murky main channel,

a unique feature forms.

A water wall.

It hides voracious predators like
these freshwater Amazon barracuda

and a five-kilo wolffish.

They lurk, watching and waiting.

But the big fish seem
strangely reluctant

to enter the clear water...

..for fear, perhaps, of being
spotted and eaten themselves.

A well-armed stingray
tries his luck.

Using natural camouflage,

they can hide themselves,
even in these clear waters...

..setting an ambush from where
they might hoover up

100 fry in one fell swoop.

Dad spots something...

..and defends his brood.

The stingray is sent packing.

These dedicated and brave parents
will have to be ever-watchful,

shepherding their young
until, perhaps, one day,

they are old enough and bold enough

to face the perils of
the main channel for themselves.

The Upper Amazon has many
strange and secret worlds

which teem with life.

But there is one remote river

whose waters are apparently devoid
of anything living.

As dawn breaks,
an ethereal apparition appears.

Wisps of steam
snaking across the canopy...

..revealing below
an Amazon tributary which boils.

Only recently mapped,

it's the largest stretch of thermal
river anywhere on the planet.

At around 100 Celsius,

fish unlucky enough to stray into
these waters will be poached alive.

Hot bedrock from deep
within the Earth's crust

lies unusually close
to the surface here,

heating and purifying the water...

..ensuring that
this stretch of the river

has always been cherished
by those who live here.

The Ashaninka people

have been visiting the boiling
river for generations...

HE CHANTS

..and revere it
for its healing properties.

Juan Flores is their shaman.

HE CONTINUES TO CHANT

TRANSLATION:

Juan and his family have developed

a deep connection
with this precious place.

They've learned how to make medicine

from mixing these
steaming purified waters

with plants from the forest.

HE CHANTS

TRANSLATION:

Many medicines used today
across the world

have their origins
in the rainforests.

Yet less than 5% of the plants
here in the Amazon

have been studied
by modern science.

The rest remain a mystery
known only to the local healers.

This extraordinary river simmers
for the next four miles

before it blows away
from the last of the foothills,

down to the plains
of the Amazon basin.

Here, the tributaries meet
and the river channels swell...

..surging faster and deeper.

The strength of the currents

erode at the soft river banks.

But out of this destruction
comes fresh opportunity.

SQUAWKING

Hidden treasure...

..which attracts green-winged macaws

who flock together to gather
on the newly-exposed banks.

They have come to eat fresh clay -

which might seem strange -
but there's a very good reason.

This particular clay
is naturally rich in salt,

a vital dietary supplement.

Far from the ocean, and washed away
by the Amazon's high rainfall,

salt is a rare mineral here.

So, the macaws bicker over
the best deposits

creating one of the Amazon's loudest
and most colourful spectacles.

SQUAWKING AND CAWING

These lowland rivers set off
out across the plains...

..many flowing with
different colours,

their waters tainted by the
great variety of rocks and forests

through which they have passed.

Ultimately, they all join together

to create one gigantic
muddy river channel.

The mighty Amazon itself.

This central stretch of the river
is so wide and deep,

ocean-going ships can sail
over 2,000 miles inland.

At its halfway point where
it meets the inky-black Rio Negro

lies the Amazon's largest city...

..Manaus.

With a population of
over two million people,

this city made its fortune
in the late 19th century

from the riches of the river
and surrounding rainforest...

..rubber, gold and minerals.

Today,
the thriving markets of Manaus

depend on a constant supply
of local produce.

For the last century,

this flamboyant city
has built a reputation

as the Paris of the tropics...

..dominated by
an extravagant opera house.

The people of Manaus
depend on local farmers

like Edmar Fernandes da Lira

who grows crops on the fertile
muddy banks of the Amazon

not far from the city.

TRANSLATION:

These are the good times for Edmar

but he must work
all the daylight hours he can.

TRANSLATION:

The Amazon's banks here
are very productive.

Three times a week,
for eight months of the year,

Edmar carries 400 kilos of leaves
down to the waiting boat.

TRANSLATION:

But time is running out.

These are some of the last crops

Edmar will be able to sell
for months.

He must prepare for huge change.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Every year in November,
the tropical wet season sweeps in.

Six months of rainstorms inject
trillions of gallons of water

into the Amazon river system,
transforming it.

THUNDER RUMBLING

In the mid-Amazon,

stretches of river can quadruple
in width and rise by ten metres.

The port of Manaus has a harbour
wall built to hold back the water.

Beyond the city, though,
it's a different story.

Edmar's farm is submerged.

Because he has prepared,

Edmar simply shifts his attention
to his stilt garden.

For the next four months, the only
vegetables to grow on his farm

will be those above the flood.

And when the river does recede,

it leaves behind
a fresh layer of sediment

which will fertilise
a new season of planting.

But the floods can be very powerful

and living with them comes
with huge challenges.

TRANSLATION:

In recent years, the Amazon has
faced more extreme weather events.

Drier dry seasons...

..and even wetter wet seasons.

Within the last two decades,
rainfall has become so intense

that the floods have been
the highest since records began.

TRANSLATION:

The river that has
previously provided

so abundantly for Edmar
and his family

is now threatening
to destroy their way of life.

For nature, the arrival
of the annual floods

still bring incredible
opportunities.

As vast tracts of land
become completely submerged,

they create the Amazon's
legendary flooded forests.

Almost 200,000 square miles
of rainforest become inundated...

..creating a new home
for countless fish

that shoal amongst the branches
where birds once flew.

The Amazon has over 3,000 species.

Many breed in the flooded forests
during high water.

Hot on their tails

come the Amazon's most
revered and mysterious creatures.

SQUEAKING

Pink river dolphins,

known locally as botos...

..the largest river dolphins
in the world.

A flooded forest of this scale
creates new opportunities

and challenges.

Leaves from the forests stain
the floodwater dark brown.

Sunken branches create
an obstacle course

but botos have specialist equipment.

Like their ocean cousins,

their domed forehead,
known as the melon,

allows botos to scan
this submerged world using sonar.

As if that's not enough,
botos have another unique weapon.

They are the only adult dolphins
with whiskers.

These help pinpoint exactly
where their prey is,

no matter how it twists and turns.

The Amazon's flooded forests

have existed for
at least eight million years...

..creating a world
so special and unique,

it's home to some of the
most bizarre birds on Earth.

Hoatzins...

..whose unusual lifestyle
sets them apart from other birds.

They feed almost exclusively
on leaves,

a diet which has
an unfortunate and gassy effect...

..leading to their nickname...

..stink birds.

During the flood season,

certain riverside plants
burst into new growth,

the cue for hoatzins to breed.

But the new leaves attract
spider monkeys, too.

Some monkeys can be a threat

and will often devour
any eggs they find.

The hoatzins' only safety
is in the most inaccessible branches

furthest out over the river...

..safe from the reach of
greedy monkeys,

but now in danger
from the floodwater.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Even near the end of
the Amazon's wet season,

sudden intense storms can bring
ten centimetres of rain in a day...

..drowning any nests
built too low...

..and putting others
in reach of river predators...

..like black caiman.

To make matters even more perilous,

hoatzin chicks are curious
and more than a little clumsy.

Fortunately, they are
not entirely helpless...

..as they are born with an unusual
piece of climbing equipment...

..claws on their wings.

So even this little chick
can clamber back up to safety.

At the peak of high water,

just under 300,000 square miles
of the Amazon's flood plain

can be submerged.

Under this colossal weight of water,

the Earth's crust itself
can sink by eight centimetres.

The floodwaters can remain high
for three months

before they finally drain away
down into the Lower Amazon.

River banks down here
can be 15 miles apart.

Stretches of the Lower Amazon
look more like a sea

and on its shore
there are some spectacular beaches.

This region is often called
the Caribbean of the Amazon.

Even though it's more than
300 miles from the ocean...

..every year,
crowds of river people, Riberenos,

gather in the Lower Amazon town
of Alter do Chao

for a seasonal celebration
of the river.

As the party preparations begin
in the town,

Sandro Branco and his grandfather

enjoy a moment of quiet
before the fiesta.

TRANSLATION:

Sandro is right to be nervous
as Alter do Chao stages

one of the most colourful
and surprising river carnivals

in all of Brazil.

And Sandro is the lead man.

TRANSLATION:

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

Sandro is the star of the show,
playing the pink boto...

..a legendary creature
for the river people.

The local belief is that
on the night of the full moon,

the boto dolphin turns into
a handsome and seductive man

with a hat and a white suit.

Once on land, his challenge
is to seduce young women.

BEATING DRUMS, CROWD NOISES

Despite the pressure...

..the dance has been a success.

TRANSLATION:

Sandro is the third generation
of boto dancers in his family

but he's facing stiff competition.

The next wave of talent
is hot on his heels.

TRANSLATION:

It's a celebration that has been
going on for hundreds of years...

..showing just how
the life of this great river...

..and the lives of millions
that live along its banks

are inextricably intertwined.

MUTED CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

By the time it reaches the sea,

the Amazon River discharges
around 175,000 tonnes of water

into the Atlantic Ocean
per second.

This is more water than the next
six largest rivers combined.

The Amazon's fresh water floats
above the sea as a vast brown cloud

covering an area of
up to 400,000 square miles.

Until recently, it's been
very difficult to find exactly

what lies and lives beneath.

But today,
the very latest technology

and the most advanced submarines
are allowing scientists

to explore this last secret world
of the Amazon.

In a dive 300 miles north
of the Amazon's mouth,

the expedition is revealing
that the river's nutrients

are fertilising the ocean's waters,
creating a bloom of plankton.

It is hard to imagine that there
would be life underneath this murk.

As the dive continues
below the plume,

chief scientist Rodrigo Moura
and pilot Allan Scott

discover something extraordinary.

Ah, I've never seen anything
like this before, never.

A massive reef of
colourful, rock-like algae.

Oh, look.

Look at the size of these guys!

Thronging with
rich and varied marine life...

Angel fish. Heaven.

CHUCKLING

..under the dense plume
of the fertile river water,

it turns out there is
a hidden world.

An enormous algal reef
more than 600 miles long.

And that's not all.

An underwater garden
of giant sponges.

Some of the sponges are
more than a metre across

and 1,000 years old...

..all feeding on nutrients
which the Amazon has collected

on its incredible journey.

We don't see this every day, huh?
No, not every day, this is special.

No other river on Earth
is known to have the power

to shape such an extraordinary
ecosystem out in the ocean.

Every dive is now
rewriting the textbooks.

From its humble beginnings
as a drop in the mountains,

the Amazon is a river like no other.

From its source to the sea,

it has forged its own path,
created new worlds

and is so powerful and so vast,

who knows what other secrets
it has yet to reveal?

Intrepid Brazilian film-maker
Joao Krajewski

has spent the last ten years

filming and travelling
right across the Amazon.

Over that time, he's been lucky
enough to have close encounters

with many of its exotic
and bizarre wildlife.

The Amazon is outstanding
because of its size and diversity.

The river, gigantic.

You can spend your whole life
exploring this region

and there will always be
something different to see.

But the Earth's Great Rivers series

set him a new challenge to film
Amazon wildlife underwater...

..an almost impossible mission

as the Amazon River
is perhaps the muddiest.

However, its great size means
it has 1,100 tributaries

each with its own
distinct character.

Joao has heard of a region
in the Amazon's remote south

where the water is said to be clear.

So, he and his wife Roberta,
his diving partner,

prepare an expedition.

TRANSLATION:

So, this is a very special day

because it'll be the first scuba
dive ever in this river.

This is a true dive
into the unknown.

It was the first time that
I actually see the underwater world.

I would say there's
more than 100 species of fish

just in this little area.

Every single species is new for me.

But just because the water is clear,
it doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

I was there comfortably
having fun with my fish

and, all of a sudden,
I saw this shape coming towards me.

It's a giant electric eel.

I can't lie,
I was really afraid of them

because you don't need to be bitten
or anything.

If you just touch it accidentally,
it can zap you really, really bad.

They are not afraid of you at all,
they just come and come.

HE GASPS

And some of them can give you
a shock of more than 1,000 volts.

If you are in the water,
you can drown, you can die.

The problem is that
on a hot day like this,

the eels are looking for shade

and actively swim towards Joao.

ROBERTA SPEAKS

A bit tense, yeah.

They are curious. They are slow

but they can...

If you touch them, ugh.

It's unsafe for Joao
to film them in the water,

so he needs to make a plan.

This is the Brazilian way,
we call it gambia, improvising,

last-minute idea but it will work.

This is the final touch.

A very special one.

So, it should work.

These strange eels have a bizarre
behaviour which Joao hopes to film.

Yay!

I got it!

That was a good one.

He captures the moment when an eel
comes up for a breath of air.

The lining of their mouth
acts like a lung.

This ensures the eels survive dry
seasons when the water is shallow,

often very low in oxygen.

Wow, what a day. Phew.

As Joao explores the region further,

he comes across some locations
which are a wildlife film-maker's

dream come true.

Very, very unusually for the Amazon,

he finds some springs
where the water is as clear as gin.

Joao is hoping the pools
will give him the chance

to film new behaviour.

And he is not disappointed.

It's not long before
a new species of cichlid

invite him into their family.

Wow!

One of the springs is
like an underwater garden.

There are more than 1,000 fish
in front of me, I'm not kidding.

But though it looks beautiful,
there is danger.

Black caiman patrol the murky
waters of the main river.

They can be up to four metres long,
and weigh in excess of 400 kilos.

Roberta acts as lookout.

I'm keeping an eye out for caimans
because we never know,

like, there is one big one
who lives right there

and we need to watch to make sure
Joao is going to be safe.

Joao has no idea
what is lurking in the gloam.

The dividing line is so clear -

you have dark in one side
and crystal clear on the other.

I never thought it was so clear.

And just as Joao is on the boundary,

the ranger spots something
in the river.

Heading straight for Joao...

..the largest wild mammal
in South America.

A tapir.

That's a crazy tapir. I've never
seen a tapir looking like that,

stay for such a long time
in the middle of the river.

Look. It's swimming upriver now.

Tapirs aren't usually dangerous
but it could attack a caiman.

It's a reminder that Joao is
vulnerable when he's in the water.

I'll just get a close-up

and then we go upriver
which is safer.

As well as filming underwater,

for the final phase
of his expedition,

Joao is hoping to get really close

to one of the Amazon's largest
and most secretive predators.

And one of the southern rivers,
the Cristalino, might just deliver.

Joao has heard rumours
that this area of the river

is home to a particularly
approachable family of giant otters.

They're usually very shy,

so it's a real surprise to see
an entire family out in the open.

Absolutely amazing, amazing.

I never expected that.

The whole family is
right in front of us.

We are four metres away.

All of them here.

Unbelievable.
In the middle of the wilderness.

HE LAUGHS

They even allow him
to join their fishing trip.

Having earned their trust,
Joao attempts to get even closer.

Another improvised camera rig means
Joao can join them in the water.

GROWLING

Oh, I've never seen them do this,
absolutely unbelievable.

Right in front of me
and they're still doing it,

they're playing, out of the water,
amazing, amazing.

So, although the sheer scale
of the Amazon seemed so daunting...

..the mighty river
revealed its secrets...

..giving Joao a window
into its hidden underwater worlds.

Next time...

..the majestic Nile.

The world's longest river flowing
from the equator to the Sahara...

..through astonishing
unexpected worlds...

..bringing life to the driest parts
of the hottest continent on Earth.