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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny clearing far in the of Peru Amazon when he detected sounds approaching through the lush forest.

He became aware that he had been encircled, and froze.

“A single individual stood, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Unexpectedly he detected that I was present and I began to flee.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who avoid engagement with strangers.

A recent study from a advocacy organization claims remain a minimum of 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” left in the world. The group is considered to be the biggest. The study says 50% of these groups may be wiped out within ten years if governments don't do more actions to defend them.

The report asserts the biggest risks are from timber harvesting, digging or operations for petroleum. Uncontacted groups are extremely vulnerable to basic disease—therefore, it notes a risk is posed by exposure with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers looking for clicks.

Recently, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's village of seven or eight households, perched atop on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the nearest village by canoe.

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

Tomas says that, sometimes, the noise of logging machinery can be detected around the clock, and the tribe members are observing their jungle damaged and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents state they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they also have deep admiration for their “relatives” dwelling in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live as they live, we are unable to change their culture. That's why we keep our distance,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of aggression and the chance that loggers might expose the community to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the community, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a woman with a toddler child, was in the jungle collecting food when she noticed them.

“There were shouting, sounds from individuals, numerous of them. Like there were a crowd shouting,” she told us.

It was the first time she had met the tribe and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was still racing from terror.

“Because there are timber workers and operations destroying the jungle they are fleeing, perhaps due to terror and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. This is what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were confronted by the Mashco Piro while fishing. A single person was hit by an projectile to the abdomen. He lived, but the second individual was located dead after several days with multiple arrow wounds in his body.

The Peruvian government has a approach of no engagement with isolated people, rendering it illegal to start interactions with them.

The strategy originated in Brazil after decades of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that early exposure with remote tribes lead to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, hardship and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru came into contact with the broader society, half of their population died within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly at risk—in terms of health, any interaction may transmit illnesses, and including the simplest ones might decimate them,” says a representative from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion could be extremely detrimental to their way of life and health as a society.”

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