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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard sounds approaching through the thick jungle.

It dawned on him that he had been encircled, and stood still.

“A single individual positioned, directing with an projectile,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he detected I was here and I commenced to escape.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbor to these itinerant tribe, who reject interaction with outsiders.

A recent study issued by a human rights group indicates remain no fewer than 196 termed “uncontacted groups” left worldwide. The group is thought to be the largest. The report states 50% of these tribes could be decimated within ten years unless authorities fail to take further to protect them.

It argues the biggest threats are from deforestation, mining or operations for petroleum. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to basic illness—consequently, the report states a threat is presented by exposure with proselytizers and online personalities looking for clicks.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from inhabitants.

This settlement is a angling village of several households, located high on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the Peruvian Amazon, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by boat.

The area is not classified as a protected area for uncontacted groups, and logging companies function here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the racket of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the community are witnessing their woodland disrupted and ruined.

Among the locals, inhabitants say they are torn. They dread the projectiles but they also have deep admiration for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and desire to safeguard them.

“Let them live according to their traditions, we can't change their way of life. This is why we preserve our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of aggression and the likelihood that loggers might expose the tribe to diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia, a resident with a young daughter, was in the jungle gathering food when she heard them.

“We heard calls, cries from individuals, a large number of them. As though there was a crowd calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the first time she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. An hour later, her thoughts was continually pounding from anxiety.

“Because there are deforestation crews and operations destroying the woodland they're running away, perhaps out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave towards us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, two individuals were confronted by the Mashco Piro while angling. One man was wounded by an arrow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other person was discovered deceased after several days with nine puncture marks in his frame.

The administration maintains a approach of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to start interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that first exposure with isolated people could lead to whole populations being eliminated by sickness, hardship and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, half of their population perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the same fate.

“Secluded communities are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any contact could spread illnesses, and even the simplest ones may eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any exposure or interference can be extremely detrimental to their existence and health as a community.”

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