Season 1
Amazon Abyss is a British wildlife documentary series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, in which a team led by presenters Mike deGruy and Kate Humble embark on a mission to explore the depths of the Amazon River in the middle of the South American jungle.
The series originally aired in the UK on BBC One from 4 to 8 April, 2005. There are five half-hour episodes in the series.
Amazon Abyss originally aired in South Africa on DStv's BBC Prime channel from 11 August to 8 September, 2007, on Saturdays at 16h00.
It premiered on DStv's Animal Planet channel on Monday 2 June 2008, at 14h15. New episodes are broadcast on five consecutive days.
Repeats
Daily: 21h00, 03h30
Synopsis
The Amazon is the last great unknown region on Earth, but what lies beneath the great river's surface?
Animal Planet embarks on an extraordinary pioneering journey deep into the heart of a dangerous and beautiful world.
Amazingly, scientists have only just discovered that the Amazon and its tributaries have astonishing hidden depths: 120-metre deep plunge pools inhabited by some of Earth's strangest creatures including primitive dolphins, giant pink electric knife fish, weird spoon-faced whip-tails, giant black piranha, two-metre long man-eating catfish, stingrays and bull sharks.
Viewers discover these 'freaks of the deep' along with the experts and meet the Amazon's iconic jungle animals - anacondas, crocodiles, dolphins, jaguars, tarantulas, manatees, monkeys and parrots, all of whose lives are connected to the mysterious river.