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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade deep in the of Peru jungle when he detected sounds coming closer through the thick forest.

He realized he was surrounded, and halted.

“One person was standing, directing with an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he noticed of my presence and I started to escape.”

He found himself encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—was practically a local to these nomadic people, who shun interaction with foreigners.

A recent study by a advocacy organisation indicates remain a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” in existence worldwide. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the most numerous. The study says a significant portion of these communities could be wiped out over the coming ten years if governments don't do more measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the biggest threats stem from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for oil. Remote communities are exceptionally at risk to common illness—consequently, it notes a threat is posed by interaction with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers looking for attention.

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

The village is a fishing hamlet of a handful of families, perched atop on the banks of the Tauhamanu River deep within the of Peru rainforest, half a day from the closest village by canoe.

This region is not recognised as a protected area for remote communities, and deforestation operations operate here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the racket of heavy equipment can be heard continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

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

“Let them live according to their traditions, we can't change their culture. That's why we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of aggression and the possibility that loggers might introduce the community to sicknesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia, a young mother with a young girl, was in the jungle gathering produce when she detected them.

“We heard shouting, sounds from people, many of them. As though there were a large gathering yelling,” she told us.

It was the first instance she had encountered the Mashco Piro and she ran. Subsequently, her head was still throbbing from terror.

“As there are loggers and firms destroying the forest they are escaping, perhaps due to terror and they end up in proximity to us,” she said. “We don't know what their response may be towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were assaulted by the group while angling. One man was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He lived, but the other person was found deceased subsequently with multiple puncture marks in his physique.

The Peruvian government has a strategy of non-contact with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to start interactions with them.

The strategy originated in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who saw that early exposure with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being wiped out by illness, hardship and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in the country first encountered with the outside world, 50% of their community died within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe suffered the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are extremely vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure could spread sicknesses, and even the basic infections might wipe them out,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or intrusion may be highly damaging to their life and well-being as a society.”

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