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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small open space far in the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed footsteps drawing near through the dense forest.

He realized that he had been surrounded, and stood still.

“One positioned, pointing with an arrow,” he states. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I started to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a local to these nomadic people, who shun contact with strangers.

A recent study by a human rights group claims there are a minimum of 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” remaining in the world. The group is believed to be the most numerous. The report says 50% of these tribes may be eliminated over the coming ten years if governments fail to take additional measures to safeguard them.

It claims the greatest risks are from deforestation, digging or exploration for crude. Isolated tribes are highly vulnerable to ordinary disease—as such, the report says a risk is posed by exposure with proselytizers and social media influencers in pursuit of engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a angling community of several households, located high on the banks of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the of Peru rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the nearest village by boat.

The area is not designated as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and timber firms work here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of industrial tools can be noticed continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their forest damaged and devastated.

Within the village, residents say they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold profound regard for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to alter their traditions. For this reason we keep our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of violence and the possibility that timber workers 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 resident with a young daughter, was in the woodland picking produce when she heard them.

“There were calls, shouts from individuals, many of them. As though there was a large gathering calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the first instance she had encountered the group and she fled. After sixty minutes, her mind was continually throbbing from terror.

“As there are loggers and operations clearing the jungle they are escaping, perhaps due to terror and they come near us,” she explained. “We don't know what their response may be with us. That's what terrifies me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the tribe while angling. One was struck by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other man was found deceased after several days with multiple puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government follows a strategy of no engagement with isolated people, rendering it forbidden to start encounters with them.

The strategy originated in a nearby nation after decades of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that early exposure with secluded communities lead to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, destitution and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country first encountered with the world outside, 50% of their community succumbed within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are highly susceptible—in terms of health, any interaction may introduce diseases, and even the most common illnesses could decimate them,” says Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any contact or interference can be very harmful to their existence and health as a group.”

For local residents of {