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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small open space deep in the of Peru Amazon when he detected movements drawing near through the lush woodland.

He became aware he was encircled, and halted.

“A single individual was standing, aiming with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I began to flee.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For decades, Tomas—residing in the small community of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbor to these itinerant individuals, who avoid contact with outsiders.

An updated document issued by a advocacy group claims remain a minimum of 196 described as “uncontacted groups” left worldwide. This tribe is considered to be the largest. The report claims half of these tribes could be wiped out over the coming ten years should administrations neglect to implement more to protect them.

It claims the biggest threats come from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely vulnerable to ordinary sickness—consequently, the study says a risk is posed by exposure with proselytizers and digital content creators seeking clicks.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from locals.

This settlement is a angling hamlet of seven or eight households, located elevated on the banks of the Tauhamanu River deep within the of Peru jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible settlement by watercraft.

The area is not designated as a safeguarded area for uncontacted groups, and logging companies work here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the sound of heavy equipment can be heard continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disrupted and devastated.

Within the village, inhabitants report they are conflicted. They dread the projectiles but they also have deep respect for their “brothers” who live in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Let them live according to their traditions, we must not change their culture. For this reason we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that timber workers might subject the community to illnesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe made themselves known again. A young mother, a woman with a toddler child, was in the forest collecting fruit when she heard them.

“We heard shouting, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. As though there was a whole group shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the first instance she had come across the tribe and she fled. Subsequently, her mind was continually pounding from terror.

“As operate timber workers and operations clearing the woodland they are escaping, perhaps out of fear and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain what their response may be towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were attacked by the group while fishing. A single person was struck by an bow to the stomach. He recovered, but the other person was located lifeless after several days with multiple puncture marks in his physique.

The Peruvian government follows a strategy of non-contact with secluded communities, making it forbidden to start contact with them.

The policy originated in Brazil after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who saw that early contact with isolated people could lead to entire groups being decimated by illness, hardship and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the world outside, half of their community perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the same fate.

“Remote tribes are extremely susceptible—epidemiologically, any interaction might transmit sicknesses, and including the most common illnesses may wipe them out,” says Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any exposure or disruption may be extremely detrimental to their way of life and survival as a group.”

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