AMAZONAS ULTRA LIGHT

1992 I discovered the hammock as a bed for me

Nearly 30 years ago, I spent three months on a dugout canoe between Ecuador and Peru in the territory of the Huaorani Indians. After many trips to black Africa, the Arabic countries and around Europe I wanted to explore South America. Since you can't sleep on the ground in the rainforest, the only alternative was a hammock. I knew that the trip would be a completely new experience for me, but how much it would really influence my life, I still realize today.

I had a rough idea how a hammock is built and I also had a lot of thoughts about a mosquito net and rain cover. Of course all this had to be easy to transport, but that's when the first problems started. A complete set with all necessary features was just too big for the flight, so I had to get the materials in South America and knit everything together myself. With the help of our guides from the Huaorani Indian tribe I built my first hammock with mosquito protection and a span tent as rain protection. The result is a monster of certainly more than 7kg, with thick woods, a mosquito net with holes and a rain cover made of a thick plastic sheet.

The first days of travel were marked by pain

I can still remember the first days of our trip very well, when we spent the first nights in the middle of the rainforest. Despite hellish back pain I slept in my self-built hammock. I will never forget the first morning. I cursed my hammock construction because I had even more back pain and was also covered with mosquito bites.

Not even coffee helped,...but then came the saving solution  

Even the first coffee for breakfast did not improve my mood, I was just in a bad mood. The exhausting trip with our dugout canoe did relieve some tension, but I was not looking forward to the next night in the hammock. Fortunately we had our Indian guides with us, who have been sleeping in hammocks since childhood and were very amused about my back pain. In the evening they showed me how to hang up a hammock properly and how to lie in it properly. This night was the beginning of a beautiful and back pain free journey and the starting signal for innumerable ideas which accompany me until today. During the next weeks I tried to improve my hammock, mosquito net or rain cover almost every evening.

I will then take the hammock with me to Germany…

Back in Germany the topic hammocks did not let me go. I imported the first hammocks and sold them to friends and acquaintances. After a few months you could buy AMAZONAS hammocks in the first stores. With most of the owners I am still connected in friendship and business, many belong to the family.
An idea became a successful company with the first own employees. My ambition to really develop my own products and to bring them to the market became bigger and bigger. That was the starting signal for my own hammock weaving mill in Brazil, the country of origin of hammocks. But no supplier could fulfill my ideas and wishes to my satisfaction. Many months in Brazil with my new friends and real traditional hammock makers taught me the basics, which I still use today. Many experiences I made there you can find today in our products.

...almost 30 years later..

After almost 30 years of development, failures and countless test journeys around the world, I have now reached my goal. Every night in one of our hammocks brings me back to Ecuador and my first nights as a young man.

Today I am proud of my life's work and can show countless patents, (world) novelties and inventions, which confirm me in my role as a specialist.
Fortunately I am no longer alone and I have a large team that helps me to develop further and is even crazier than me.

In conclusion, I can only tell you one thing, the best hammock is the one that you simply always have with you. This is my ulterior motive with our products.
Your Matthias