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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space within in the Peruvian jungle when he heard footsteps drawing near through the lush woodland.

He became aware he was encircled, and froze.

“A single individual positioned, directing with an projectile,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he noticed that I was present and I commenced to escape.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—was practically a local to these nomadic individuals, who reject engagement with foreigners.

An updated report from a advocacy group indicates remain at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left globally. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the largest. The report claims half of these tribes could be decimated within ten years if governments neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

It argues the greatest dangers are from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for oil. Isolated tribes are highly susceptible to basic disease—therefore, the study notes a danger is presented by exposure with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators in pursuit of attention.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from residents.

This settlement is a angling hamlet of several clans, perched elevated on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the of Peru rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the closest settlement by watercraft.

The territory is not designated as a protected area for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, at times, the racket of industrial tools can be noticed continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disturbed and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are torn. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they hold deep respect for their “kin” residing in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we must not change their traditions. That's why we maintain our space,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the tribe's survival, the danger of conflict and the chance that timber workers might expose the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a woman with a two-year-old girl, was in the woodland collecting fruit when she heard them.

“We heard calls, sounds from people, numerous of them. As if there were a whole group shouting,” she told us.

It was the first instance she had encountered the group and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was continually pounding from terror.

“As operate loggers and operations clearing the forest they're running away, perhaps out of fear and they come in proximity to us,” she explained. “It is unclear how they will behave with us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

In 2022, two loggers were confronted by the Mashco Piro while angling. A single person was wounded by an bow to the stomach. He recovered, but the other person was discovered deceased after several days with several arrow wounds in his body.

Authorities in Peru has a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, making it illegal to commence interactions with them.

The strategy began in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who saw that initial contact with remote tribes lead to entire groups being wiped out by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country first encountered with the broader society, half of their population died within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe faced the same fate.

“Secluded communities are highly at risk—from a disease perspective, any exposure might transmit sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses may wipe them out,” says an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any contact or intrusion could be very harmful to their existence and health as a society.”

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