1980-1989: Journey into the Alto Ocamo

Michael Stuart Ani (Amazonia's founder and president) had been visiting and living with tribal people in the rain forests of the America's for three decades. His journey began as a teenager amongst the tribes of Southern Mexico and spread South through the Amazonia territory. Because Michael was so young and arrived with no formal agenda, the Indian people were able to indoctrinate him into their system of belief. He has become a bridge between western and Pan-American indigenous cultures.In the short span of time from adolescence to manhood, Michael has witnessed the most devastating destruction to the tropical rain forests of the Americas and its inhabitants since the Spanish conquest and the rubber boom. In the 1980s, after living with more than fourteen tribes, Michael came to the Yanomami, the last intact Indian nation left on earth.  At the time, they were in generally excellent physical condition.