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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space within in the of Peru Amazon when he noticed sounds drawing near through the dense jungle.

It dawned on him he was encircled, and stood still.

“One person was standing, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Unexpectedly he detected I was here and I started to escape.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these wandering individuals, who reject engagement with strangers.

A recent study issued by a rights group states there are at least 196 termed “remote communities” in existence globally. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The report says half of these tribes may be eliminated over the coming ten years unless authorities neglect to implement further measures to safeguard them.

It claims the most significant risks come from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for petroleum. Isolated tribes are highly vulnerable to ordinary illness—therefore, the study notes a danger is posed by exposure with religious missionaries and digital content creators seeking engagement.

Recently, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by residents.

The village is a fishermen's community of several households, perched high on the banks of the local river deep within the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the nearest settlement by canoe.

The area is not classified as a safeguarded zone for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are seeing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

Within the village, people say they are divided. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold strong regard for their “kin” residing in the woodland and desire to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we can't change their traditions. This is why we preserve our separation,” states Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the tribe's survival, the threat of aggression and the possibility that loggers might introduce the community to diseases they have no immunity to.

At the time in the community, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest collecting fruit when she detected them.

“We detected shouting, cries from individuals, numerous of them. As though it was a large gathering yelling,” she told us.

This marked the first instance she had encountered the group and she escaped. Subsequently, her mind was still racing from fear.

“Because operate deforestation crews and firms destroying the woodland they're running away, maybe due to terror and they arrive close to us,” she explained. “It is unclear what their response may be towards us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while angling. A single person was struck by an arrow to the abdomen. He lived, but the second individual was found lifeless subsequently with nine puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government has a policy of non-contact with isolated people, rendering it illegal to commence encounters with them.

The strategy was first adopted in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who observed that early exposure with secluded communities lead to whole populations being eliminated by disease, hardship and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in the country came into contact with the world outside, half of their people died within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are highly at risk—from a disease perspective, any interaction may transmit sicknesses, and including the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” states a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption can be very harmful to their existence and health as a society.”

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