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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade deep in the of Peru jungle when he heard movements approaching through the thick jungle.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and froze.

“One was standing, directing using an arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he detected that I was present and I commenced to run.”

He had come face to face members of the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbour to these wandering individuals, who reject interaction with strangers.

An updated document by a rights group states exist a minimum of 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” remaining in the world. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The report states half of these tribes may be wiped out within ten years unless authorities don't do additional to protect them.

It argues the greatest threats stem from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly at risk to common disease—consequently, the study notes a danger is caused by contact with religious missionaries and online personalities seeking attention.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been appearing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishing hamlet of several households, located elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the of Peru jungle, half a day from the nearest village by boat.

The area is not recognised as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the community are witnessing their woodland damaged and devastated.

Within the village, people say they are conflicted. They fear the tribal weapons but they also have strong regard for their “relatives” residing in the forest and desire to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not modify their culture. That's why we keep our separation,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the community's way of life, the danger of aggression and the possibility that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no resistance to.

At the time in the community, the tribe appeared again. A young mother, a woman with a young girl, was in the forest gathering food when she noticed them.

“There were shouting, sounds from individuals, numerous of them. Like there was a crowd shouting,” she shared with us.

This marked the first time she had encountered the tribe and she escaped. Subsequently, her head was still pounding from anxiety.

“Since exist deforestation crews and firms cutting down the woodland they are fleeing, perhaps due to terror and they end up close to us,” she said. “We don't know how they will behave with us. That's what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were attacked by the Mashco Piro while fishing. One was hit by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other man was discovered lifeless subsequently with nine injuries in his physique.

The Peruvian government follows a approach of no engagement with secluded communities, making it prohibited to start encounters with them.

This approach began in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that early interaction with secluded communities resulted to whole populations being decimated by sickness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, a significant portion of their population died within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua people experienced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely at risk—in terms of health, any exposure could transmit illnesses, and including the basic infections may eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any interaction or interference may be very harmful to their life and health as a society.”

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