" It is strange to think that all the great rivers of the world, the Amazon, the Nile, the Mississippi, share the same humble beginnings - a few teacupfuls of water bubbling out of the ground - then as the water hurries down to the sea it gathers momentum and force. It changes from a tiny skein of water into a broad, majestic river. Rivers, whether large or small, are the veins and arteries of the land, and along their glittering lengths they give home and food to a vast band of creatures that live in, on or alongside them. "

― Gerald Durrell , How To Shoot An Amateur Naturalist