Expedition Amazon – Into the Waters | National Geographic

[Music] Rivers really are a little bit like stories. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And just like any good story, you really have to start at the beginning. 4,000 miles from the Andes to the Atlantic flows the iconic Amazon River, depended upon by 40 million people. The river and its basin is colossal, and the water connects it.

[Music] All this is not just a single river; there isn't just a single source. [Music] However, there are a few sort of geographically accepted beginnings of the Amazon, and one of them is in a place called Nado Mismi. It is a dramatic environment. It is situated in an area that almost looks like a high altitude [Music] desert. My name is Thomas Pesek. I'm a National Geographic Explorer. I'm not a high altitude mountaineer; I'm an underwater ocean photographer. But you cannot tell the story of the river's Amazon without also telling the stories of the Andes.

All righty, let's do this! So to tell that entire story, I have to get outside my comfort zone. Yeah, anyway, 5,200 M, you can definitely feel the altitude. [Music] [Applause] [Music] This is really where the river starts: barren but beautiful and a land of contrast. This mountain sits directly on the continental divide, and all the snow that melts up here and that flows in this direction basically heads into the Amazon basin, heads into the Atlantic Ocean. And all the snow that melts on this side heads into CA Canyon, which runs into the Pacific. To think that a tiny, you know, bit of snow becomes this raging torrent that at its mouth is hundreds and hundreds of kilometers wide, it's a really surreal place to be in.

In the southern tip of Colombia, the waters are home to an elusive herbivore and those sworn to safeguard them. I have dedicated my life to the Amazon, and we need to protect all these species. I'm Fernando Toio. I'm a National Geographic Explorer. I have been working in the Amazon during the last 36 years, and unfortunately, most of the big species in the water are in danger, like the dolphin or the manate.

In 2017, Fernando and his team rescued an orphaned manate calf from illegal captivity. We call him Moi; "Moi" means "thanks" in tuna [Music] language, with the goal of returning to the wild. Moi has graduated from a tank to a natural pond. We have put in a pond with turtles and fish. He was so scared of the turtles, but we needed to teach him the different animals that he'll find in the wild. And we have beds like Hima doing all this fantastic [Music] job. Manate calves depend on their mother's milk for the first two years of their lives. [Music] Moe arrived undernourished, and his road to release depends on a full recovery. To monitor his progress, he's due for a health check.

So this is the result of illegal traffic of animals. Illegal trafficking, hunted for their meat, skin, or to be sold as a pet, is the number one threat to these docile mammals. We were involving the community to take care of Moi, and the target people that we wanted to include were the hunters of manates. We created a group of Guardians of Moi—ex-hunters, fishermen—and it's good because they know how to approach the manate; they know where to look for these ex-hunters turned protectors are now some of the manate's fiercest defenders. [Music]

The process has been long with him. Everything is changing step by step. After a long recovery, Moe is healthy enough to return to the wild. So finally, we release Moi. The good thing is that we have like 12 different Guardians. They go in a canoe with a equ and with the antenna to report every single day how the manate is doing well. We changed the perception, and now the whole community is always asking, "Who is [Music] Moi?"

The rivers that make up the Amazon are home to some of the most diverse aquatic life in the world, but the aquatic realms of Amazonia are under siege. Whether it's overfishing, deforestation, climate change, or the building of dams, or mercury pollution, and it is my hope that my photographs will make someone want to help protect a place that they will probably never visit themselves. [Applause]

The classic Amazon River is a whitewater river, which is murky and filled with silt. In those conditions, it is physically impossible to make any underwater images. And then you have the Holy Grail, which is rivers with clear water, but also that are in pristine condition. There is this group of clear water rivers in the Amazon headquarters in Bolivia, in a national park called Isoro Sikur. Here, I found what I thought was impossible: a team of indigenous leaders and local fly fishermen lead the way. The only way I can make images in a place like this is by forming partnerships with people who have a real deep connection and understanding with the ecosystem I'm trying to document.

Finally, the first glimpse of a clear underwater world emerges. [Music] The amount of life in these deep pools is just staggering. Some of the fish were giants; one of the largest catfish in the Amazon, the gilded catfish, can grow over 4 and 1/2 ft long. They are the size of small refrigerators. They're nervous; you come up, and then they hide in a little place and then they come back. But, uh, this is amazing; this is like insane, actually insane.

All around, flashes of gold dart through the water. The golden dorado grows up to 4 to 5 ft in length, and it looks like it's covered in plated [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] gold. My mind is exploding right now. Yeah, this is, uh, I never thought a place like this could exist in the Amazon. No chance.

Downstream, two major rivers of Amazonia collide, creating a life force unlike any other. This is a very powerful blending; it's absolutely stunning. My name is Julia Tavares. I am a biologist. I'm passionate about the Amazon. Everything here is amazing! If you look here, look at this; everything here is amazing! Here, we are reading off the waters where the Amazon begins.

My name is Thiago Silva. I'm a digital ecologist and a National Geographic Explorer. The Amazon is just life; it's this full intensity. There's not many places in the world, I think now, where you can still experience that raw nature. The meeting of the waters is a very iconic component of the Amazon, where you have the Sol Moes river, which is technically the Amazon River, but it's called Amazon officially after the meeting of the waters. And then you have the Negro River coming from the other [Music] side.

You mix two of the largest rivers in the world, and then you get the largest river in the world. The sheer size of the Amazon is astounding, producing 20% of the world's freshwater. Only a few thousand km more, and you get to the sea. We might make it by dinner; a difference in temperature, water speed, and pH levels create a surface tension, causing the striking visual phenomenon. And then they will go side by side, and you can see that river that's half black, half white water.

The nutrient-rich Negro River is a stark contrast against the lighter sediment-filled Sol. Every time I come here, what I feel is that a sense of it's magical, and this is how Amazonia is to me. I've been coming here for 20 years, and it's still as amazing as the first time. Yeah, absolutely. [Music] [Music]