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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard footsteps drawing near through the dense forest.

He realized that he had been hemmed in, and froze.

“One stood, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Somehow he became aware that I was present and I commenced to run.”

He found himself face to face members of the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbor to these nomadic people, who avoid engagement with outsiders.

A recent document by a rights group states remain a minimum of 196 termed “isolated tribes” remaining globally. The group is considered to be the largest. It claims a significant portion of these tribes may be wiped out over the coming ten years should administrations fail to take additional actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant threats come from deforestation, mining or drilling for crude. Isolated tribes are extremely at risk to common disease—therefore, the report notes a danger is caused by interaction with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers in pursuit of clicks.

Lately, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to inhabitants.

The village is a fishermen's hamlet of seven or eight clans, located elevated on the banks of the Tauhamanu River in the center of the of Peru jungle, half a day from the nearest town by watercraft.

The area is not recognised as a protected reserve for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations function here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the noise of logging machinery can be heard around the clock, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are divided. They fear the tribal weapons but they also possess strong regard for their “kin” dwelling in the woodland and want to defend them.

“Allow them to live in their own way, we can't modify their culture. This is why we keep our distance,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of conflict and the chance that deforestation crews might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the community, the tribe appeared again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old daughter, was in the woodland gathering produce when she detected them.

“We detected shouting, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. As if it was a whole group calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the first instance she had come across the tribe and she escaped. Subsequently, her head was still pounding from fear.

“As there are timber workers and operations destroying the woodland they are escaping, maybe because of dread and they come close to us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave to us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, two individuals were attacked by the tribe while fishing. A single person was wounded by an arrow to the abdomen. He lived, but the other person was discovered lifeless subsequently with several arrow wounds in his body.

The administration follows a approach of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, making it illegal to start interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that first contact with secluded communities could lead to whole populations being decimated by illness, poverty and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the world outside, a significant portion of their people perished within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any exposure may transmit illnesses, and even the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” says Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference may be highly damaging to their life and survival as a community.”

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