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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny clearing far in the of Peru rainforest when he noticed footsteps drawing near through the dense forest.

It dawned on him he was encircled, and froze.

“One was standing, directing with an arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he became aware I was here and I began to escape.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a local to these wandering tribe, who avoid engagement with outsiders.

A recent report by a advocacy organisation indicates there are a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” left globally. This tribe is believed to be the most numerous. The study states 50% of these tribes might be wiped out in the next decade unless authorities neglect to implement further measures to safeguard them.

It argues the greatest threats stem from deforestation, mining or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are extremely susceptible to basic sickness—therefore, it states a risk is caused by exposure with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators looking for clicks.

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

This settlement is a fishing hamlet of a handful of clans, sitting elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the of Peru rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible town by boat.

The area is not classified as a preserved area for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations function here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of logging machinery can be detected continuously, and the community are observing their jungle damaged and destroyed.

Within the village, inhabitants say they are conflicted. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold deep respect for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and want to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live as they live, we can't change their culture. For this reason we preserve our distance,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of conflict and the possibility that loggers might introduce the community to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the community, the group made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a toddler girl, was in the forest picking food when she detected them.

“We heard calls, cries from individuals, many of them. As if it was a whole group calling out,” she informed us.

That was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. An hour later, her head was persistently pounding from anxiety.

“Since exist deforestation crews and firms cutting down the forest they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they arrive near us,” she said. “It is unclear what their response may be towards us. That is the thing that scares me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while angling. A single person was struck by an projectile to the stomach. He recovered, but the other man was located deceased after several days with several puncture marks in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a strategy of no engagement with isolated people, rendering it forbidden to start interactions with them.

The policy began in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who saw that first contact with secluded communities could lead to entire groups being decimated by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru first encountered with the world outside, 50% of their community succumbed within a few years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very at risk—in terms of health, any interaction may transmit diseases, and even the simplest ones might decimate them,” says a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any contact or disruption could be very harmful to their way of life and survival as a society.”

For those living nearby of {