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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest clearing deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed sounds approaching through the thick jungle.

It dawned on him that he had been hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person stood, pointing using an projectile,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he became aware I was here and I began to flee.”

He ended up confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbor to these nomadic individuals, who avoid engagement with outsiders.

A recent document from a rights group claims exist at least 196 described as “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. The group is believed to be the biggest. It says a significant portion of these communities may be wiped out over the coming ten years unless authorities fail to take more to protect them.

The report asserts the greatest dangers stem from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for petroleum. Remote communities are highly vulnerable to common sickness—therefore, the report says a risk is caused by interaction with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers looking for clicks.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a fishing village of a handful of clans, sitting high on the edges of the local river deep within the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by watercraft.

The territory is not recognised as a preserved area for remote communities, and logging companies operate here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their forest disrupted and ruined.

Among the locals, people state they are divided. They dread the tribal weapons but they hold strong respect for their “kin” dwelling in the woodland and want to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to modify their culture. For this reason we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the community's way of life, the risk of aggression and the possibility that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to diseases they have no defense to.

During a visit in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a young girl, was in the woodland gathering fruit when she heard them.

“We heard calls, shouts from individuals, many of them. Like there were a whole group calling out,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had encountered the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her mind was persistently throbbing from anxiety.

“As operate loggers and firms cutting down the jungle they are escaping, maybe out of fear and they come in proximity to us,” she explained. “We are uncertain what their response may be to us. That's what terrifies me.”

In 2022, two loggers were confronted by the Mashco Piro while fishing. One was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He lived, but the other person was discovered lifeless days later with multiple puncture marks in his physique.

The Peruvian government follows a strategy of no engagement with isolated people, establishing it as illegal to initiate interactions with them.

The strategy was first adopted in a nearby nation following many years of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial interaction with remote tribes could lead to whole populations being wiped out by disease, poverty and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country first encountered with the world outside, half of their people perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people experienced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact may spread diseases, and including the simplest ones may eliminate them,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference could be extremely detrimental to their existence and health as a community.”

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