Some rivers around the world are even more dangerous than the Amazon! First, there’s the Congo River in Africa, with its terrifyingly deep waters and strong currents that could sweep away even large boats. Then there’s the Nile River, which might seem calm in parts but has deadly crocodiles and hippos ready to defend their territory. The Mississippi River in the United States can look peaceful, but it has strong currents, hidden whirlpools, and frequent floods that make it hazardous. Over in Asia, the Yangtze River is another risky river with sudden floods and currents that have taken countless lives. And finally, the Mekong River, stretching through multiple countries, is filled with underwater hazards and giant catfish that could rival anything in a scary river story!
00:00Now, of course you know that the Amazon River is famous for its piranhas, bull sharks, and other creatures you don't want to meet.
00:10But there are even more dangerous rivers in the world.
00:13The deepest of them, the Congo, goes so far down in some sections that even light can't reach there.
00:19It's the only major river that crosses the equator twice and carries enough water to fill more than 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools into the Atlantic Ocean every second.
00:30Wow!
00:31Even the most experienced boaters have trouble passing through all of the river's strong currents, rapids in its upper part, and waterfalls and gorges in the lower section.
00:41The Congo currents are so fast and powerful that they even divide animals like mountains and oceans do.
00:47There are new species of fish evolving separately on the two banks as they can't reach the other side and breed with each other.
00:55One of the most dangerous types of fish living here is the goliath tigerfish.
01:00These monsters that grow up to 5 feet and travel at the speed of 25 miles per hour are relatives of piranhas.
01:07Their mouths are full of vicious, razor-sharp teeth.
01:10Their females lay hundreds of thousands of eggs, and the offspring are predators from birth.
01:15You have a good reason to fear the goliath tigerfish, as they're the only freshwater fish in Africa that have attacked crocodiles and even humans.
01:25Okay, not swimming there.
01:28There are dense jungles and more hungry wildlife, including snakes and some aggressive hippos, all along the river.
01:35Still, it's used as a water highway in Central Africa, so barges traveling on it for weeks are often crowded with up to 2,000 people and capsize every now and then.
01:47And if you believe the local folklore, there's one more thing to be afraid of.
01:51The one who stops the flow of the rivers.
01:54A dinosaur-like beast that is said to live in the Congo River basin.
01:58There have been over 100 sightings over the last century, but no one can provide solid evidence the beast is real.
02:08At the turn of the 21st century, there was a series of terrible, mysterious stories on the Kali River in Asia.
02:15Something described as a mud-colored water pig would drag swimmers underwater in front of terrified eyewitnesses.
02:22British biologist Jeremy Wade stepped up to crack the case.
02:26He noticed that all the scary incidents were happening in one specific spot, stretching about 4 miles.
02:33Villagers told him this creature was growing big and bad from all the food it got.
02:38Wade examined the water with a depth sounder and thought it could have been a whirlpool.
02:43Then the monster dragged a domestic water buffalo into the water.
02:47The buffaloes are big and heavy, so the creature that attacked it would have to be super strong.
02:53Saltwater crocodiles don't go so far inland.
02:56And the most common local species of crocodiles don't live in cold waters.
03:00There were no bull sharks in the area either.
03:03Finally, Wade spotted several goonch catfish underwater.
03:08Some of them were human-sized.
03:10They couldn't capture these monsters with a regular fishing rod, but a special ceremonial construction did the job.
03:16The largest fish was 6 feet 7 inches long and 3 times the weight of an average gaunch.
03:22It was large enough to take down a human or a large animal, but Wade mentioned there could be even bigger ones living in the Kali River.
03:31The Orinoco River in South America is dangerous to navigate because of some crazy curves and strong underwater currents.
03:40It's easy to get lost here, even if you have your GPS on.
03:43There are sudden waterfalls all along, and you must be prepared to handle those to survive.
03:50The river is the only home to a rare Orinoco crocodile and has some pretty scary-looking vampire fish swimming around.
03:57This payara fish has sharp, spiky daggers that line their gums and two elongated fangs that rise from their lower jaws.
04:05Hmm, could probably use an orthodontist and some braces, you think?
04:09It's a ferocious hunter constantly looking for the next victim, which is going to be a medium or large-sized fish.
04:16If a human catches a payara, it will defend itself, leaving cuts, nips, and bites.
04:21But there are no known cases of this cutie taking a human life.
04:26Well, that's good.
04:27The Yellow River in China received its name after its color, but it wasn't always this yellow.
04:35It was first formed at least 30 million years ago and shifted its course over 30 times over the centuries.
04:42Yellow sediments moving downstream from a plateau in the distance transformed it from clear to muddy.
04:48This fine-grained substance piled up at the bottom of the river and formed natural dams.
04:54The huge amounts of water that the river carries need to find their way to the sea.
04:59And that's when major floods happened, taking several million lives in various epochs.
05:05The locals tried to solve the problem by building higher and higher levees, but it only made things worse.
05:11Water coming out of the river would now have nowhere to back up,
05:16as the riverbed was higher than the surrounding land.
05:19This even shifted the river's mouth.
05:21Now there are massive dams and dikes all along the river to try to contain it.
05:27The Piranha River is the second longest in Latin America and has many tributaries.
05:33They flow in from the highlands near the Andes, and there's a huge drainage in the wet season.
05:38This makes the river a perfect home for, guess what, piranhas.
05:42There are 30 to 60 species of these scary fish in the piranha waters.
05:48In late 2013, they attacked bathers cooling off by the water on a hot day.
05:53People started running out of the river as they felt something was biting them in the water.
05:58Luckily, no one lost their lives in the accident,
06:00but it's still considered one of the most audacious piranha attacks ever recorded.
06:05Biologists later determined that the type of piranhas, called palomates, was to blame for this,
06:11and humans had probably disturbed their breeding grounds.
06:15Wow.
06:16The piranha also has a strong current that is tricky for boats and swimmers to overcome.
06:21Plus, it often floods, which can be dangerous for people living in the surrounding areas.
06:26The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through 11 countries all the way into the Mediterranean Sea.
06:35Expeditions have spent centuries looking for its source,
06:38and no one still knows for sure where this mighty river begins.
06:43Adding to the mystery, the Nile takes an unexpected turn right in the middle of the Sahara.
06:48Scientists have figured out the reason is a massive underground rock formation from millions of years ago.
06:54The Nile has served as the most important water highway for civilizations through centuries,
07:00but it has some pretty dangerous inhabitants, like crocodiles that grow to be 20 feet long,
07:05which is slightly more than the height of an average giraffe.
07:09These bad guys can reach a speed of 30 miles per hour on land
07:13and take the lives of a couple hundred people every year.
07:17Hippopotamuses that also live here sometimes go after boats,
07:20and venomous snakes, like the black mamba and the Egyptian cobra, add to the mix.
07:26One of the most dangerous creatures on the Nile is the mosquito,
07:30as they carry around all sorts of diseases that affect hundreds of thousands of people.
07:37The Brahmaputra River in Asia carries waters from the mighty Himalayas.
07:42When the snow is in the mountains melt, the river floods massively,
07:46causing landslides, displacing millions of people,
07:49and taking the lives of hundreds of animals in the nearby national parks.
07:54Such floods are also common during the monsoon season in India,
07:58from June to October, with heavy rains.
08:01The course of the Brahmaputra River has changed incredibly over the past two and a half centuries.
08:06Erosion is another danger it's hiding.
08:09The banks of the river are mostly made of weak, cohesive sand and silt.
08:13And even though the erosion rate has gone down,
08:16it is still the reason a lot of people lose their land and get displaced.
08:21The Brahmaputra is one of the few rivers in the world that has a tidal bore.
08:25That's a strong tidal wave that pushes up the river against the current
08:29where a river empties into an ocean or sea.
08:33And there you have it.
08:33The Brahmaputra River gives a
08:46roads of the river to the river
08:49The Brahmaputra River has a really hard part of
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