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Join Mike de Gruy, Kate Humble and an international team of scientists and divers in search of some of the Amazon's most incredible creatures.
The awesome Amazon is wider and deeper at some points than the English Channel, flowing 6,500km across South America.
It's famous for the surrounding rainforest, which can take visitors by surprise because it is not all thick tropical jungle. Watch what dive cameraman, Mike de Gruy, thought after his first trip to the river for the Amazon Abyss expedition.
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Amazon creatures
The waters too are home to incredible creatures. Here are some of the most amazing featured in the programmes.
Giant otter Pteronura brasiliensis
The Amazon's rarest large mammal now lives only in the most remote parts of the region.
It's an intelligent, social animal and at 1.8m long when fully grown, is one of the top predators of the region's freshwater fish. Partial to shellfish and crabs, the giant otter carries a favourite rock around to help it break open shells.
The world's biggest species of otter faces very high risk of extinction, according to the World Conservation Union (the IUCN). No longer hunted for its fur, the giant otter's survival now depends on protection of the areas in which it lives from destruction and pollution.
More about the giant otter in Wildfacts or watch video on the external ARKive site.
This is the largest species of freshwater dolphin. Some people think the boto can stun prey with a burst of sound, produced in its distinctively bulbous forehead.
The dolphin's body colour changes through its lifetime. Beginning dark grey, it turns pale or vivid pink before fading almost to white.
The neck bones are more flexible than in most other dolphins, so it can move its head independently of its body. This helps with echolocation in the murky Amazon waters.
Other adaptations for river life include sharp hearing and a long beak. Distinctive whisker-like hairs around the mouth aid foraging for food in mud.
More about the boto in Wildfacts or watch video on the external ARKive site.
This is the world's largest snake and can grow to 10m long and 130kg in weight.
It hunts birds, reptiles and mammals in and out of water. The snake coils around its prey, crushing it until it can no longer breathe. There are reports of anacondas eating people. The anaconda doesn't need to feed very often though – perhaps not for three months after a sizeable kill.
Unusually for a snake, the anaconda does not lay eggs; females give birth to live young. It is not officially registered as threatened, but it is protected by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/amazon/creatures.shtml