Incredible new video shows uncontacted hunter-gatherer Mashco Piro tribe brandishing spears on banks of a river in Peruvian rainforest
- Rights groups fear the tribe is being moved out of their territory by logging operations in the region
Incredible new video shows an uncontacted hunter-gatherer tribe brandishing spears on the banks of a river in remote Peru - amid fears their rainforest home is being increasingly disrupted by logging.
The Mashco Piro tribe, believed to be the largest uncontacted tribe in the world, are seen standing on the dusty riverside in loincloths with hair long and bare feet chalky from the rough ground.
Rare video from across the river shows the group stood around in small clusters, some jogging to pick up large spears resting in the dirt. Others talk, gesture to each other and help carry objects along the river.
Experts fear the reclusive tribe is coming out of its home in the Madre de Dios region in southeast Peru more often as loggers hack away at the rainforest.
Survival International, working with tribes around the world for their safety, says dozens of tribal people have appeared near other tribal settlements in southeast Peru in recent days, concerned about the presence of loggers.
Survival fears the tribe is moving out of the rainforest due to logging in the area
Rare photos show the tribe emerging from the rainforest and interacting on the river banks
Tribesmen rest on the banks of the river as others carry spears and stop to interact
Experts worry the tribe may be pushed out of their homes by logging activity nearby
The tribe rarely interact even with other tribes, keeping to themselves in a small territory in southeast Peru
Experts are concerned the tribe was spotted just a few miles from where the loggers are about to start working
The Mashco Piro were photographed at the end of June on the banks of a river in the Madre de Dios region in southeast Peru near the border with Brazil, Survival International said as it released the photos on Tuesday.
'These incredible images show that a large number of isolated Mashco Piro live alone a few miles from where the loggers are about to start their operations,' said Survival International director Caroline Pearce.
More than 50 Mashco Piro people appeared in recent days near a village of the Yine people called Monte Salvado.
Another group of 17 appeared by the nearby village of Puerto Nuevo, said the NGO, which defends Indigenous rights.
The Mashco Piro, who inhabit an area located between two natural reserves in Madre de Dios, have seldom appeared as a rule and do not communicate much with the Yine or anyone, according to Survival International.
Several logging companies hold timber concessions inside the territory inhabited by the Mashco Piro.
One company, Canales Tahuamanu, has built more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) of roads for its logging trucks to extract timber, according to Survival International.
The company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, according to which it has 53,000 hectares (130,000 acres) of forests in Madre de Dios to extract cedar and mahogany.
In 2022, members of the Mashco Piro tribe shot two Catahua workers with bows and arrows while fishing on the Tahuamanu River, killing one.
MailOnline was unable to reach Canales Tahuamanu for comment.
Survival International is now calling on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to withdraw its certifications of Catahua's operations - and petitioning for support to help protect uncontacted tribes.
Alfredo Vargas Pio, President of local Indigenous organization said Tuesday: 'The logging workers could bring in new diseases which would wipe out the Mashco Piro, and there's also a risk of violence on either side, so it's very important that the territorial rights of the Mashco Piro are recognized and protected in law.'
'This is a humanitarian disaster in the making – it's absolutely vital that the loggers are thrown out, and the Mashco Piro's territory is properly protected at last,' added Ms Pearce.
'The FSC must cancel its certification of Canales Tahuamanu immediately – failure to do so will make a mockery of the entire certification system.'
The Peruvian government reported on June 28 that local residents had reported seeing Mashco Piro on the Las Piedras river, 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the city of Puerto Maldonado, the capital of Madre de Dios.
Several logging companies hold timber concessions inside the territory inhabited by the tribe
Another tribe, not uncontacted, reported that the tribe expressed concern about logging
The Mashco Piro have seldom appeared as a rule and do not communicate much with others
The tribe was seen in rare footage from June walking along the banks of a river in the Madre de Dios region of Peru
Two years ago members of the tribe clashed with loggers, shooting two with arrows as they fished in a river (pictured June)
The Mashco Piro have also been sighted across the border in Brazil, said Rosa Padilha, at the Brazilian Catholic bishops' Indigenous Missionary Council in the state of Acre.
'They flee from loggers on the Peruvian side,' she said.
'At this time of the year they appear on the beaches to take (Amazon turtle) eggs. That's when we find their footprints on the sand. They leave behind a lot of turtle shells.'
'They are a people with no peace, restless, because they are always on the run,' Padilha said.
There are more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the world, according to Survival, but many today face extinction due to habitat destruction from outsiders.
Survival International warns the Peruvian government still has not signed into law several indigenous territories which these groups rely on for their survival.
There are similar fears for tribes on the other side of the world. In Indonesia, the Hongana Manyawa face expulsion from their home atop the world's largest nickel deposit on Halmahera Island.
Some came out of isolation for the first time to ask miners for food as they cleared their way through forest to make way for new mines.
Survival International warned they do not know for how long the tribe will be able to survive after the encounter.
Contact with outsiders can be life threatening due to exposure to new diseases isolated people would not have developed resistance to.
Tesla - which uses nickel in its car batteries - said it was exploring the 'need for the establishment of a no-go zone for mining to protect indigenous and human rights, particularly those of uncontacted communities' in its 2023 impact report.
