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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny clearing deep in the Peruvian Amazon when he detected movements coming closer through the dense woodland.

He became aware he was encircled, and froze.

“A single individual was standing, aiming using an bow and arrow,” he states. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I began to run.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the small village of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a local to these wandering people, who reject interaction with strangers.

A recent report by a rights organisation claims remain at least 196 of what it calls “remote communities” in existence worldwide. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the most numerous. The report claims 50% of these groups might be wiped out over the coming ten years should administrations fail to take more actions to defend them.

The report asserts the biggest risks are from timber harvesting, mining or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to common sickness—as such, the study notes a danger is posed by contact with religious missionaries and digital content creators looking for attention.

Lately, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a fishermen's village of seven or eight households, perched high on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the Peruvian Amazon, half a day from the most accessible town by watercraft.

The territory is not classified as a protected area for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their jungle disrupted and ruined.

Within the village, residents state they are divided. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong admiration for their “brothers” residing in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we can't alter their way of life. That's why we maintain our distance,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the community's way of life, the threat of violence and the chance that deforestation crews might introduce the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the community, the tribe made themselves known again. A young mother, a young mother with a two-year-old daughter, was in the forest collecting fruit when she detected them.

“We heard cries, cries from individuals, a large number of them. As though there were a crowd shouting,” she shared with us.

It was the first time she had come across the group and she fled. An hour later, her head was continually racing from terror.

“As operate deforestation crews and firms cutting down the forest they are fleeing, perhaps due to terror and they arrive close to us,” she explained. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while fishing. One was hit by an arrow to the gut. He survived, but the other person was discovered lifeless after several days with multiple injuries in his frame.

The administration follows a approach of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it forbidden to start encounters with them.

The strategy began in Brazil following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that initial contact with remote tribes could lead to whole populations being eliminated by illness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru first encountered with the outside world, a significant portion of their population succumbed within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are extremely at risk—epidemiologically, any interaction could spread sicknesses, and including the most common illnesses might wipe them out,” says Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or intrusion could be highly damaging to their life and health as a group.”

For local residents of {