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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small clearing deep in the of Peru rainforest when he detected movements approaching through the dense jungle.

He became aware that he stood hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person stood, aiming with an projectile,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he noticed of my presence and I began to run.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbour to these wandering tribe, who shun engagement with foreigners.

An updated study from a rights organization claims remain at least 196 described as “uncontacted groups” in existence globally. This tribe is thought to be the largest. The report states 50% of these groups could be wiped out in the next decade if governments don't do more measures to safeguard them.

It argues the most significant risks come from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly at risk to basic sickness—as such, the report notes a danger is caused by interaction with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for attention.

Lately, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, according to locals.

This settlement is a fishing village of a handful of clans, located elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the Peruvian Amazon, half a day from the closest settlement by boat.

This region is not classified as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and timber firms function here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the noise of logging machinery can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are observing their woodland damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people state they are divided. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also have strong admiration for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and want to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't modify their way of life. For this reason we keep our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the community's way of life, the risk of conflict and the likelihood that loggers might introduce the community to illnesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the community, the tribe appeared again. A young mother, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest gathering food when she detected them.

“There were shouting, cries from others, numerous of them. Like it was a whole group calling out,” she told us.

It was the first time she had come across the tribe and she ran. Subsequently, her mind was still racing from terror.

“As operate deforestation crews and companies cutting down the woodland they are escaping, perhaps out of fear and they come close to us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave towards us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One was wounded by an projectile to the gut. He survived, but the other man was found dead days later with several puncture marks in his body.

Authorities in Peru maintains a strategy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to initiate encounters with them.

The policy began in the neighboring country after decades of advocacy by community representatives, who saw that initial interaction with isolated people resulted to entire communities being eliminated by illness, poverty and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country came into contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their population perished within a few years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very at risk—in terms of health, any contact may introduce diseases, and even the most common illnesses could decimate them,” states a representative from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any interaction or disruption could be highly damaging to their life and health as a community.”

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