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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade deep in the Peruvian Amazon when he heard movements coming closer through the dense jungle.

He realized that he stood encircled, and stood still.

“One stood, aiming with an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I commenced to escape.”

He ended up encountering members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—served as practically a neighbour to these itinerant people, who avoid interaction with outsiders.

A new document issued by a rights organization indicates there are at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The report claims half of these tribes might be eliminated within ten years should administrations fail to take further to protect them.

It argues the biggest risks come from timber harvesting, digging or operations for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to basic sickness—consequently, the report states a threat is presented by interaction with proselytizers and online personalities seeking engagement.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been appearing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a angling community of seven or eight clans, perched atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the of Peru jungle, half a day from the closest town by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a safeguarded reserve for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, at times, the noise of logging machinery can be heard continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their forest disrupted and ruined.

Among the locals, residents state they are conflicted. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold profound admiration for their “relatives” residing in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Let them live according to their traditions, we are unable to alter their traditions. That's why we preserve our space,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the possibility that loggers might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the community, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old girl, was in the woodland picking fruit when she detected them.

“We heard shouting, shouts from individuals, many of them. As though there were a crowd yelling,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had come across the tribe and she fled. After sixty minutes, her head was still racing from terror.

“Since there are loggers and companies clearing the forest they're running away, perhaps because of dread and they end up close to us,” she explained. “It is unclear what their response may be to us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

Recently, two loggers were assaulted by the group while fishing. One man was hit by an arrow to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was found deceased subsequently with several puncture marks in his physique.

Authorities in Peru has a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it forbidden to start contact with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who saw that first contact with remote tribes could lead to entire communities being eliminated by disease, poverty and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country first encountered with the world outside, a significant portion of their people perished within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people suffered the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—from a disease perspective, any exposure may introduce illnesses, and including the basic infections may wipe them out,” says an advocate from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference may be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a group.”

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