(fast-paced music) - [Peter] Seen from space, it's clear that our planet is dominated by water.

(water splashing) It covers 3/4 of the globe.

It is everywhere, and in everything.

(bright music) Water is liquid life, and all living things depend upon it.

The icons created by water are dynamic.

Falls, rivers, canyons, and caves.

On Earth, water clearly makes a splash wherever it goes.

(bright music) The river is a classic embodiment of water.

And the longest river in the world is the Nile, called the Father of African Rivers.

The Nile originates from as far as Burundi, just south of the Equator, and flows through northeast Africa for approximately 7,000 kilometres, before finally draining into the Mediterranean Sea.

Flowing in some shape or form since the Oligocene Age, 30 million years ago, the Nile Basin covers one-tenth of the African continent, and encompasses 11 countries.

(gentle music) The best way to understand the Nile's importance is from above.

The Nile is surrounded by desert, but it is a green vein cutting through barren gold.

An oasis of life.

At its end is a vast delta, resembling the lotus flower, the national flower of Egypt.

A reminder of how much the Nile means to this country in particular.

Greek historian, Herodotus, famously wrote that Egypt was the gift of the Nile.

The Nile has been the lifeblood of Egyptian civilization since the stone age.

It gave rise to some of the world's earliest agriculture, transforming the dry river banks into lush pastures.

Domesticated animals thrive on its banks, and the waters are full of fish.

The ancient Egyptians called the river Aur, meaning black, because of its colour when it floods.

The water is laden with dark silt, which adds fertility to the banks, enabling the ancient Egyptians to grow cotton, beans, flax, wheat, and papyrus.

This bounty was then transported on the river and sold worldwide.

Egypt boomed thanks to the Nile.

The Nile was also part of the spiritual fabric of Egyptian culture.

The ancient Egyptians believed that at the beginning of time there was only water, the birthplace of the universe and Earth.

In these primordial depths were a set of eight gods, one of whom was Amun, perhaps the most important god in ancient Egypt.

Reverence for Amun inspired the building of the cult temple, Karnak.

Located on the east bank of the river Nile, Karnak is one of the largest religious precincts ever constructed, covering an area equivalent to 10 European cathedrals.

(fast-paced music) The central temple alone is the equivalent of three Notre Dames.

A sacred lake lay at the heart of Karnak, where the Egyptians kept geese, the symbol of Amun.

On the Nile's west bank, the Valley of the Kings again testifies to the Egyptians' reverence of gods and water.

This was the site of royal burials since 2100 BC, and is set in a dried river valley called a Wadi.

The tombs themselves are carved into limestone, a remnant of a long-ago sea.

The inner chambers were filled with possessions needed for the afterlife, including boats.

While the tomb walls were covered in murals of daily life left behind, including water urns.

(light music) On the east bank of the river, is the modern-day Luxor Museum, where many treasures now find permanent rest.

The museum offers a rare chance to stare into the face of a Pharaoh, and to understand how much water was valued.

Mummified fish, alligators, and crocodiles were often entombed with the ancient kings, keeping the spirit of the Nile alive, long after death.

If the water of the Nile is the creator and guarantor of life, there is one body of water to its east that is anything but.

(bright music) This is the Dead Sea in Jordan.

The water here is so salty, it is hostile to life.

So much so that neither plants nor animals live beneath its surface.

And it's getting saltier.

The Dead Sea loses more water through evaporation and extraction than it can naturally replace.

So much so that the level of the sea is falling by one metre every year.

The problem is, the lower the level gets, the saltier the water becomes.

The salination is so intense that the Dead Sea is now 10 times saltier than the world's oceans.

Despite its name, and saltiness, the Dead Sea was never a sea.

It's actually a land-locked lake, and a remarkable one at that.

It's 400 metres below sea level, making it the lowest-lying body of water on Earth.

And it's over 300 metres deep, making it the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.

Whilst the Dead Sea's saltiness is a repellent for animals and plants, a large number of human beings find this place irresistible.

(gentle music) Many people believe that the Dead Sea's mineral-rich mud has medicinal properties, being particularly effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.

(suspenseful music) Although the Dead Sea is losing water, the water never disappears completely, it just goes elsewhere.

This is because Earth's water is in a closed atmospheric system, meaning water is being continually recycled.

(thunder roaring) So, evaporated water from the Dead Sea could re-materialize somewhere else in the world.

Somewhere like Kakadu.

(bright music) Situated at the top end of Australia's Northern Territory, Kakadu is an enormous protected area of wetlands, floodplains, billabongs, and rivers.

It stretches 200 kilometres north to south and over 100 kilometres east to west, covering an area of almost 20,000 square kilometres.

This is the largest terrestrial national park on the Australian continent, and is World Heritage listed for outstanding ecological and cultural value.

And it's all thanks to water.

140 million years ago, Kakadu lay beneath a shallow sea, but 100 million years ago, the waves receded and submerged sea cliffs became escarpments rich in sandstone, sediment, and molten rock.

(water splashing) 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose and fell inundating the lowlands, before retracting again leaving freshwater swamps behind them.

(fast-paced music) Vast floodplains, which formed within the past 2,000 years, stretch across Kakadu's lowlands, and provide the signature scenery for which this iconic place is famous.

Indigenous Australians have lived in the Kakadu area for tens of thousands of years.

Some of the world's oldest and most impressive rock art is found here.

The artwork chronicles daily life, favoured prey, and also, first contact with Europeans.

Water is a recurring theme, with long-necked tortoises and freshwater fish festooning the walls.

Paintings also depict creation beings, most significantly, Namarrkon or Lightning Man who is responsible for the lightshow Kakadu turns on each summer.

(lightning roaring) Australia's Top End is one of its lightning hot spots, with NASA recording the outskirts of its capital city, Darwin, as the third-most lightning-prone part of the continent.

Lightning is the hallmark of Kakadu's tropical monsoon climate.

Two distinct seasons occur here, wet or dry, with cyclones, storms, and flooding in between.

Annual rainfall in Kakadu National Park can exceed 1,500 millimetres.

And humidity is high, turning this place into a hothouse, and cultivating water-loving wildlife.

Kakadu's creatures are used to being wet, and lap it up.

Traditional owners actually recognise six seasons based on patterns of rainfall.

They say that when the wet arrives, Kakadu comes alive.

(light music) Floodplains and billabongs across Kakadu National Park are full of fish and aquatic insects, which in turn supports a massive number of waterbirds.

Five species of egret thrive at Kakadu.

These birds find food by stalking the shallows.

Egret eyesight is three times more detailed than humans, with binocular vision offering excellent depth perception.

Skirting the surface are terns, using aerial surveillance to secure a meal.

Migratory magpie geese arrive in a blur of black and white.

They live in Kakadu in the dry season, and depend on freshwater wetland for food.

Thousands of iconic brolga also live at Kakadu.

This is one of Australia's largest flying birds, famous for their elaborate courtship.

Sea eagles get a front row seat to all this song and dance.

This raptor specialises in hunting aquatic prey, and builds its nest above waterways.

Their high vantage point makes it easier to spot food, and trouble.

Top of the Kakadu food-chain is this dinosaur of the deep.

Both freshwater and saltwater crocodiles inhabit Kakadu, and they know this submerged world intimately.

(suspenseful music) Having existed for around 200 million years, crocodiles are supreme water predators.

Posture, vision, circulation, and metabolism are all adapted to a stealthy life beneath the surface.

They will catch crabs or tackle buffalo.

Basically anything entering their domain is fair game.

For crocs, Kakadu offers the ultimate smorgasbord.

(fast-paced music) Distracting from all the danger is the floral decoration of water plants.

Many of Kakadu's 2,000 plant species tolerate water-logged ground, including paperbark forests and mangroves.

Most eye-catching are the waterlilies, also known as the lotus flower.

These aquatic herbs can grow in deep water and flower year-round, perfuming the tropical air.

(light music) More than half of Kakadu National Park is Aboriginal owned, managed in partnership with Parks Australia.

Conservation of both ecology and culture is equally important here, making this water icon a shining example for the world.

Kakadu shows how incredible water is, spawning such complexity from such simplicity.

(gentle music) There's really nothing much to water.

It's composed of just two elements, hydrogen and oxygen, whose atoms amass to make liquid.

As a drop, water barely makes a dent.

But en masse, nothing stands in its way.

And if you want to see water at full throttle, there's nowhere like Niagara Falls.

(water splashing) This is the most famous waterfall in North America, and known worldwide for its beauty.

Niagara is actually made up of three waterfalls, which span the border of Canada and the US state of New York.

The largest is Horseshoe Falls, so named for its distinctive shape.

(gentle music) Niagara's story began 10,000 years ago, with the melting of the Wisconsin Glacier, whose water broke the capacity of the upper Great Lakes, which then emptied into the Niagara River.

The river then cut a gorge through the escarpment, washing away the softer shale.

Limestone washed away first, and then the harder rock, eventually carving out the falls.

The water's journey is long and complex.

Flowing from the upper reaches of North America to a grand finale in the Atlantic Ocean, it is constantly replenished by snow, hail, rain, and groundwater.

And, as it flows through the Great Lakes, it also collects what is called fossil water from the last ice age.

So history as well as H2O, thunders over the falls.

(water splashing) Today, if visitors want to get close to the falls, they approach from below in a tourist boat called Maid of the Mist.

But in the past, others have approached the falls from above, and gone over the edge, in a barrel.

The first to attempt it and survive, was New York school teacher, Annie Edson Taylor.

She did so on October 24th, 1901, to celebrate her 63rd birthday.

It earned her the nickname Queen of the Mist, and her tombstone still tells the tale.

Famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, thought about doing it, but never plucked up the courage.

Instead, he posed in rapids above the falls.

Over 5,000 people have gone over the falls, both intentionally and accidentally.

Most die.

The most famous fatality was George Stathakis who took the plunge in July, 1930.

He brought with him his 150-year-old pet turtle as a good luck charm.

His barrel became trapped behind the falls and Stathakis suffocated, his turtle lived.

Niagara River lifesaver William 'Red' Hill retrieved the body and rescued the reptile, later posing in the barrel.

What daredevils fail to judge is the tremendous force of this water.

Over 3,000 tonnes of water flow over the Niagara Falls every second, generating more than four million kilowatts of electricity.

The potential to harness this energy has obsessed colonial settlers ever since eyes were first laid upon it.

Since the mid-1700s, canals, installations, and constructions have all tried to do so.

It culminated in the Niagara Tunnel Project, whose hydroelectricity powers 160,000 homes.

Turning water into warmth is the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, cast by the truly beautiful Niagara Falls.

(suspenseful music) As Niagara Falls demonstrates, water may be liquid, but it has a very solid effect on the landscape.

Given time, water moving with weight, mass, and speed, slices through Earth like a knife through butter.

(fast-paced music) For evidence of this, go no further than the Grand Canyon, in Arizona in the United States of America.

This icon is famous for its earthen beauty.

But water is its architect.

The tell-tale sign of water at work, is the Colorado River.

The river followed the creation of the Rocky Mountains 70 million years ago, establishing its current course about six million years ago.

In its entirety, the Colorado River is 2,330 kilometres long and passes through seven US states.

The Grand Canyon section covers 446 kilometres of that, equivalent to the distance by road between New York and Washington DC.

Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history is exposed by the passage of the Colorado River.

Layer by layer, water stripped Earth away.

Some layers are rich in fossils, others precede the age of the dinosaurs, and some reveal the Grand Canyon's waterbirth beneath an ancient sea.

Over millions of years, tectonic activity lifted the seabed high and dry to form the Colorado Plateau.

The massive uplift, 3,000 metres in some places, steepened the gradient of the river and strengthened its force.

Water then teamed up with erosion to carve out singular structures across the canyon, whose strata lines show the passage of time.

(gentle music) Not only water traverses the iconic Grand Canyon, wildlife too.

The Grand Canyon National Park is home to over 40 reptile species, and 90 different mammals inhabit the river's corridor including bats and rodents.

Most notably, the famous bald eagle uses the river as a migration corridor, and overwinters here.

This is a sacred totem bird for Native Americans who have inhabited the Canyon for thousands of years.

The Havasupai people have lived here for the past 800 years, and feel an intimate connection to the water.

It's spiritually sacred to them and Havasupai means people of the blue-green waters.

(people singing) Today, the flight of the bald eagle can be experienced in a small way on the Sky Walk.

This circular structure is aptly located at Eagle Point, on the west end of the Grand Canyon.

In just a few steps, the Colorado River yawns beneath the feet, almost a kilometre below.

It's a highlight for the six million or so people who visit the Grand Canyon every year.

It certainly offers one of the best views of the waterway that has made the Grand Canyon such an international icon.

(light music) Our fascination with water is understandable.

Three quarters of the human brain is water.

It's in every one of our cells, organs, and tissues.

And beyond us, the cycle of water drives the entire planet's climate and temperature.

With this kind of omnipotence, many water icons take on a God-like status.

(light music) This is the Ganges.

Flowing for over 2,500 kilometres through India and Bangladesh, the Ganges begins life in the Himalayas to the north and empties into the Bay of Bengal in the east.

For Hindus, this is the holiest of all rivers.

Personified as the Goddess Ganga, worshipers believe the Ganges links heaven to earth.

So, to end earthly life on the banks of the Ganges is optimal for a fast ascent to the afterlife, and mourners will travel long distances to bring their dead here for cremation.

Hindus also bathe in the Ganges for purification, and to rid their soul of sin.

Bathing also pays homage to ancestors and the gods, symbolised by cupping and releasing water.

Flower petals and clay dishes filled with burning oil are offerings to the gods.

And when the devout leave the river, they take a little of the Ganges with them, to use at home in rituals.

Most Hindus visit the Ganges at Varanasi, India's holiest of cities.

It's believed Buddhism was founded here around 528 BCE, and where Buddha delivered his first sermon.

The city is famous for its ghats or stone embankments where pilgrims gather for ceremony and ablutions.

And India's other great religion, cricket.

The Ganges is not only a pathway to paradise, it's a vital lifeline for India.

Today, irrigation from the Ganges enables crops to be grown that feed 400 million people, almost 1/3 of the Indian population.

Vital for fresh water, fishing, and transport, the Ganges is also the most populated river basin in the world.

(indistinct chattering) Despite its veneration, the river is polluted by human, animal, and industrial waste.

The pollution is so heavy, aquatic animals such as the Ganges River dolphin are literally gasping for life.

These dolphins used to inhabit the Ganges in large pods, but now face extinction.

To preserve the Ganges, the river itself must go through a holy purification, a cleansing of the waters.

Only this will ensure the future of this great water icon, and its continued service to both the living and the dead.

(water splashing) Water, over time, has the ability to sculpt extraordinary geological forms.

And in limestone-rich landscapes called karst terrain, water sculpts one form in particular, caves.

(fast-paced music) The Blue Mountains in Australia are one of the most notable karst environments in the world, and home to some extraordinary caves.

These are the Jenolan Caves.

Spread over 7,620 acres, and with 300 interconnected caverns, the Jenolan Caves are 340 million years old.

The oldest discovered cave system in the world, and it's been sculpted entirely by water.

Over millions of years, water seeped through the earth, laced itself with acids and minerals, and dissolved the limestone underlay of these hills, which is no small feat because the limestone consists of a coral reef, compressed by volcanic rock.

But water persevered, with grand results.

Water collaborates with different minerals to create an extraordinary variety of shapes and colours in these caves.

(gentle music) Some of the formations in here are hundreds of thousands of years old.

And with water's presence ongoing, many stalactites and stalagmites are still active.

Drip by drip, it's magic in the making.

The word Jenolan is an indigenous word usually translated as high place.

The caves hold special significance for the indigenous Gundungurra people, who believe the subterranean waters have curative powers.

Visitors still pour in, seeking their own communion with this watery wonderland.

With cave names such as the Orient, Imperial, Devil's Coach House, the Temple of Bahl, and Aladdin's Cave, it's clear our shared fascination with Jenolan is as deep as the icon itself.

In some parts of the world, water digs even deeper to do its handiwork.

Here, 290 metres below the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, is an icon that very few people have seen.

The very first, were two silver miners, who accidentally broke into the chamber.

At first, all they saw was water.

But when the water was drained, they could barely believe their eyes.

This is la cueva de los cristales, the Crystal Cave.

This cave is full of gypsum crystals, some of the largest ever discovered.

It is one of the world's most remarkable displays of mineral formation.

The biggest crystal is 11 metres high, one metre in diameter, and weighs approximately 55 tonnes.

Geologists who entered Crystal Cave reported that nothing they'd studied in their careers could compare to this.

Any studies here have to be quick.

Temperatures can rise to 60 degrees Celsius, with close to 100% humidity.

Within minutes, the human body boils alive.

As with Jenolan Caves in Australia, water is the creator of this masterpiece.

(volcano exploding) Beginning 26 million years ago, water rose from a volcanic magma chamber below the cave, boiling hot and dissolving rock.

The water was laden with gypsum.

As the water temperature stabilised, the gypsum transformed into translucent selenite crystals.

This ideal pressure cooker environment lasted for over a million years, enabling the crystals to grow to gigantic sizes.

The cave is located in a mining area, and was drained between 2000 and 2017, which enabled research and filming.

But it soon became clear that without their cauldron, the crystals were in trouble.

They stopped growing, dried, destabilised, and started to die.

To preserve them, the cave was reflooded.

Humans may never lay eyes on this spectacle again.

But Crystal Cave, secretly fashioned by water, remains unforgettable.

For centuries, humankind has gone in search of new water icons.

Some did it for adventure, some for commerce.

Or, in the case of David Livingston, for religion.

In the mid-1800s, Livingston explored the interior of Africa to introduce Christianity to its inhabitants.

In the course of his missionary work, Livingston was the first European to set eyes on one of the world's greatest water icons, the Victoria Falls.

The falls are located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and named in honour of Queen Victoria.

Amazed by what he saw, Livingston wrote, "No-one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England.

Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."

At 108 metres high, the falls are 15 metres taller than the Statue of Liberty.

And it's possible to fit five Eiffel Towers end-to-end along the Falls' 1,700 metre width.

At its peak, 750,000 cubic metres of water fall over its edge every minute.

Enough to fill 300 Olympic-size swimming pools, making Victoria Falls the world's largest sheet of falling water.

The falls appear like a deep gash in the Earth.

No mountains, escarpments, or valleys surround it, just a flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometres in all directions.

This basalt plateau formed in the Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago, and is composed of layers of volcanic lava that cracked as it cooled and solidified.

Water in the Zambezi River made good use of these faults, deepening a series of gorges across the area and readjusting its course and the site of the waterfall many times over the aeons.

The site of the current falls wasn't determined until five million years ago.

At that time, tectonic uplift blocked the course of the Upper Zambezi, forming a lake.

When the lake overflowed, huge chunks of basalt were carried downstream, smashing a pathway to the current Victoria Falls.

Africans who have lived near Victoria Falls for centuries call it Mosi-oa-Tunya or The Smoke that Thunders.

Water plunges down a series of gorges, leaving a veil of mist that can be seen over 40 kilometres away.

This airborne mist lingers hundreds of metres above the falls, causing rainbows by day and moonbows by night.

All this water fosters lush rainforest on both sides of Victoria Falls, full of wildlife.

And undoubtedly, the most iconic water creature in this water world is the hippo.

Hippos used to be widespread throughout Africa, but the Zambezi River remains one of their few strong-holds.

Large pods occupy the shallows, fraternising and fighting depending on their mood.

Hippopotamus is a Greek word meaning river horse, and they are classified as semi-aquatic.

They have webbed feet, and depend on water to regulate body temperature and offer protection from the sun.

To survive, they need to stay immersed most of the day.

Hippos will only leave the water for longer periods at night, to graze.

So sunset over the Zambezi is their wakeup call, and is also the best light to appreciate the water-spirit of this place.

The spirit of Victoria Falls.

Leaving the falls behind it, the water of the Zambezi River goes on an epic journey.

This is the fourth largest river and the largest east-flowing waterway in Africa, travelling over 2,500 kilometres before emptying into the Indian Ocean.

Seen from space, its change from fresh to salt water creates a stunning azure fan.

It's a picture replayed across the planet, a reminder of the constant morphing of water, and how this blue network connects every country and culture.

NASA's lens also shows our dependency on water.

And one of the most depended-upon water icons is the Irrawaddy River.

This river bisects the country of Myanmar before emptying out through the nine-armed Irrawaddy Delta.

This vast delta supports one of the world's largest rice growing areas.

This water-dependent crop is a vital food source for Myanmar and people worldwide, and activities related to its harvest and transport creates much of the buzz on the Irrawaddy River.

The Irrawaddy River forms at the confluence of the N'Mai and Mali Rivers, which originate in the Himalayas Mountain range.

The Irrawaddy runs for over 2,000 kilometres, and is the country's largest and most important commercial waterway.

Used since the early sixth Century for trade with China, the river has enabled this country to gain power and strength.

By the 12th Century, a network of canals enabled rice cultivation, and so began the country's long love affair with the grain.

It's believed the name of the river derives from the Sanskrit word airavati meaning, elephant that carries Indra, king of rivers, storms, and war.

Asian elephants used to roam the delta in huge numbers, but are now rare.

Poet Rudyard Kipling called the Irrawaddy River the Road to Mandalay, referencing the kingdom's former capital.

Both Mandalay and Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, lie on the river's banks.

Along the river's length, ornate bridges crisscross the waters, linking towns and framing buildings.

The Irrawaddy forms the cultural, economic, and historical heartland of Myanmar.

Every part of daily life seems infused by the river, or worked around it.

Buddhism is practised by almost 90% of the population, and the proportion of monks and income spent on religion makes Myanmar the world's most religious Buddhist country, and it shows.

Dozens of temples crowd the river's edge, some hundreds of years old, many adorned in gold.

Irrawaddy is associated with river divas, so the closer a temple can get to the water, the better.

One of the main monastic centres is Sagaing, which also lies on the Irrawaddy River.

Pagodas and monasteries adorn its hills and are best seen from the water.

For hundreds of years, the river has witnessed the rise and fall of various kingdoms, and the arrival and departure of both peace and warmakers.

But there is one constant, the annual monsoon.

This mid-year event changes the river's level dramatically over the seasons, and makes this great water icon, ebb or flow, as it finds its way through Myanmar.

(water splashing gently) It's quipped that all rivers of the world flow in one direction, downhill, following the path of least resistance.

Their direction is dictated by the shape of the land, and whilst most think rivers flow south, four of the world's 10 longest actually flow north, whilst the mightiest of them all flows west to east.

The Amazon River in South America.

For over 6 1/2 thousand kilometres, the Amazon winds its way from the peaks of Peru to the Atlantic Ocean.

More than 200,000 cubic metres per second of water pours down this river and into the sea, which is 20% of the world's total riverine discharge.

And the Amazon Basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, covering 40% of South America.

The river knows no bounds, either.

Every year during the rainy season, the Amazon rises more than nine metres, flooding the surrounding forests.

These flooded forests are the most extensive habitat of its kind in the world.

In the dry season they cover 110,000 square kilometres, which triples in size in the wet season.

Known as the Amazon Rainforest, it boasts the richest biodiversity of any forest on earth.

One third of all known fauna species in the world live here, (gentle music) including hundreds of species of amphibians and reptiles.

Some of the Amazon River's most distinctive locals are freshwater turtles.

They have lived on Earth for over 150 million years and are considered barometers for the health of the river.

And, so far, so good.

The Amazon is also a primary habitat for the boto, the world's largest species of river dolphin.

These fish eaters are in fish eating paradise.

Around 3,000 fish species live in the Amazon River, with more discovered every year.

This includes the infamous flesh-eating piranha, considered the most dangerous thing in the river.

Better to catch them for dinner then be eaten for dinner.

The Amazon River has also sustained human habitation for millennia.

Shell middens indicate humans settled here 10,000 years ago.

Large-scale indigenous societies and chiefdoms have lived upon and loved this water icon for generations.

Today, markets are still full of the Amazon's bounty.

All this must have been mind-blowing for Europeans when they first sailed here.

It was a living Eden, unseen on their cold side of the planet.

When they started to arrive in the 1500s keen to stake their claim, they met resistance.

Most famously, Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Orellana in 1541, who was attacked by indigenous warriors who it's reported, were mostly women.

It reminded Francisco of female warriors in Greek mythology, called Amazonians, and is thought to be the origin of the river's name.

This greatest of great water icons is now under threat from land-clearing, agriculture, pollution, and proposed damming projects.

Only time will tell how much longer the protective energy of those Amazonian warriors will endure.

For now, the Amazon continues to snake its way bravely and boldly through South America, and through the hearts and minds of water-lovers worldwide.

Water is the connective tissue of all life.

(fast-paced music) Like blue blood, it flows continuously through every body, connecting sky to sea, rivers to caves, floodplain to falls, and all living beings.

It may die in one place, but is instantly reborn in another.

Whether drop by drop, or as a torrential force, water has crafted some of the planet's most glorious natural icons.

And its work is never done.

(bright music)