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Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small open space within in the of Peru rainforest when he noticed sounds coming closer through the lush forest.

He realized he was hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person was standing, directing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Unexpectedly he became aware I was here and I started to flee.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—served as almost a neighbour to these wandering individuals, who reject contact with outsiders.

An updated document from a rights group claims there are a minimum of 196 described as “remote communities” remaining globally. The group is thought to be the most numerous. The study says 50% of these tribes might be wiped out over the coming ten years should administrations fail to take more to protect them.

The report asserts the biggest threats come from logging, extraction or operations for crude. Uncontacted groups are extremely susceptible to common sickness—consequently, the report states a risk is caused by contact with religious missionaries and online personalities looking for clicks.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of seven or eight households, sitting atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the of Peru Amazon, 10 hours from the nearest town by boat.

The territory is not classified as a protected area for uncontacted groups, and timber firms operate here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle disrupted and devastated.

Among the locals, people say they are divided. They dread the tribal weapons but they hold strong regard for their “relatives” residing in the forest and want to defend them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we can't alter their traditions. This is why we keep our distance,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of conflict and the possibility that deforestation crews might expose the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the settlement, the group appeared again. Letitia, a woman with a young girl, was in the woodland picking produce when she heard them.

“We detected shouting, cries from people, many of them. As though there were a whole group shouting,” she told us.

This marked the first time she had come across the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was still pounding from fear.

“As exist timber workers and firms cutting down the jungle they are escaping, maybe due to terror and they arrive near us,” she stated. “It is unclear how they will behave towards us. This is what frightens me.”

In 2022, two loggers were attacked by the group while angling. A single person was wounded by an arrow to the stomach. He lived, but the other man was found lifeless after several days with nine arrow wounds in his body.

Authorities in Peru follows a strategy of non-contact with secluded communities, making it forbidden to initiate contact with them.

The strategy began in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that first contact with remote tribes resulted to whole populations being wiped out by disease, poverty and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru came into contact with the outside world, 50% of their population died within a matter of years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are extremely susceptible—epidemiologically, any contact could transmit sicknesses, and even the basic infections might decimate them,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or interference may be very harmful to their life and survival as a community.”

For those living nearby of {