🔗 Share this article

Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small glade far in the of Peru rainforest when he detected movements approaching through the dense jungle.

It dawned on him he was surrounded, and halted.

“A single individual stood, directing with an arrow,” he states. “And somehow he noticed of my presence and I commenced to escape.”

He ended up face to face members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who shun interaction with foreigners.

An updated study issued by a rights group claims there are no fewer than 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the most numerous. The report says 50% of these tribes might be decimated in the next decade if governments don't do additional to protect them.

It claims the biggest dangers come from logging, digging or drilling for petroleum. Isolated tribes are exceptionally vulnerable to ordinary illness—as such, the study notes a danger is presented by contact with proselytizers and social media influencers in pursuit of attention.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by locals.

This settlement is a fishing hamlet of seven or eight clans, located high on the edges of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a ten-hour journey from the nearest village by watercraft.

The area is not classified as a protected area for remote communities, and timber firms work here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the racket of industrial tools can be heard around the clock, and the tribe members are witnessing their woodland disrupted and ruined.

Among the locals, people state they are divided. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong respect for their “brothers” who live in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we are unable to alter their traditions. For this reason we keep our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the tribe's survival, the risk of violence and the likelihood that deforestation crews might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old girl, was in the jungle collecting produce when she heard them.

“There were calls, shouts from people, numerous of them. As if there were a whole group shouting,” she told us.

This marked the first time she had encountered the group and she fled. After sixty minutes, her mind was still throbbing from fear.

“Because operate loggers and firms clearing the forest they are escaping, perhaps due to terror and they arrive near us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were confronted by the tribe while fishing. One was hit by an arrow to the gut. He lived, but the second individual was discovered lifeless after several days with multiple puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government has a approach of non-contact with remote tribes, making it illegal to initiate interactions with them.

This approach was first adopted in the neighboring country following many years of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial contact with isolated people could lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their population perished within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Secluded communities are extremely vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any exposure might introduce sicknesses, and even the simplest ones might wipe them out,” explains a representative from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any contact or disruption may be very harmful to their life and well-being as a community.”

For those living nearby of {