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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest glade far in the of Peru Amazon when he detected sounds approaching through the dense forest.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and stood still.

“One person was standing, aiming using an bow and arrow,” he states. “And somehow he became aware of my presence and I began to escape.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as almost a neighbour to these itinerant tribe, who reject contact with outsiders.

A recent document by a advocacy organization claims there are at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” remaining worldwide. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the largest. The report claims a significant portion of these groups could be wiped out over the coming ten years if governments fail to take additional measures to safeguard them.

It claims the greatest threats are from timber harvesting, mining or drilling for petroleum. Remote communities are exceptionally vulnerable to basic illness—therefore, the report states a danger is caused by exposure with proselytizers and online personalities seeking attention.

Recently, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a fishermen's hamlet of a handful of clans, sitting atop on the edges of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the closest town by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a safeguarded area for uncontacted groups, and timber firms work here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the sound of logging machinery can be heard day and night, and the tribe members are observing their forest disturbed and destroyed.

Within the village, inhabitants state they are conflicted. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also have deep respect for their “kin” dwelling in the jungle and wish to defend them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not alter their way of life. That's why we preserve our separation,” states Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of aggression and the chance that loggers might expose the tribe to diseases they have no resistance to.

At the time in the village, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia, a resident with a young girl, was in the jungle picking food when she noticed them.

“We heard calls, cries from others, a large number of them. As if there were a large gathering calling out,” she informed us.

It was the first time she had encountered the group and she escaped. An hour later, her thoughts was persistently racing from terror.

“As operate deforestation crews and operations destroying the woodland they are fleeing, maybe due to terror and they end up in proximity to us,” she stated. “We don't know how they might react towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Recently, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while catching fish. One was struck by an projectile to the gut. He survived, but the second individual was located dead subsequently with several puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government follows a approach of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, making it illegal to initiate encounters with them.

The strategy began in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who saw that initial interaction with isolated people could lead to whole populations being eliminated by illness, hardship and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their people died within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua people faced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are highly at risk—from a disease perspective, any exposure may introduce diseases, and even the basic infections might decimate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any contact or disruption may be very harmful to their way of life and health as a community.”

For those living nearby of {