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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a modest open space within in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed movements approaching through the dense jungle.

He became aware that he had been hemmed in, and froze.

“One was standing, pointing with an arrow,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected that I was present and I started to flee.”

He found himself confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these itinerant tribe, who reject engagement with outsiders.

An updated study by a rights organisation states exist no fewer than 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left globally. This tribe is considered to be the most numerous. The report states half of these groups could be eliminated within ten years unless authorities don't do additional to protect them.

It claims the biggest risks stem from logging, extraction or operations for oil. Isolated tribes are exceptionally susceptible to basic disease—consequently, the study states a danger is posed by contact with proselytizers and online personalities seeking clicks.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from locals.

The village is a angling hamlet of seven or eight families, sitting atop on the shores of the local river in the center of the Peruvian jungle, 10 hours from the nearest settlement by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a protected reserve for uncontacted groups, and timber firms function here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the noise of heavy equipment can be detected day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their forest disturbed and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, people say they are torn. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess strong regard for their “relatives” dwelling in the woodland and wish to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to alter their way of life. This is why we preserve our separation,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the community's way of life, the threat of aggression and the chance that deforestation crews might expose the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no defense to.

While we were in the community, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a resident with a toddler girl, was in the forest picking food when she heard them.

“We heard cries, shouts from others, many of them. As though there was a crowd calling out,” she informed us.

It was the initial occasion she had encountered the group and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her mind was persistently pounding from terror.

“Since operate deforestation crews and operations destroying the jungle they are fleeing, maybe 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 scares me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were confronted by the group while fishing. One was struck by an arrow to the gut. He survived, but the other man was discovered dead subsequently with nine injuries in his body.

The administration has a approach of avoiding interaction with isolated people, making it forbidden to initiate interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in Brazil following many years of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who saw that initial contact with remote tribes lead to whole populations being eliminated by illness, destitution and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in the country made initial contact with the outside world, 50% of their community perished within a few years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community experienced the identical outcome.

“Secluded communities are very vulnerable—in terms of health, any interaction could spread diseases, and even the simplest ones may decimate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or interference could be very harmful to their existence and well-being as a community.”

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