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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny clearing far in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected movements coming closer through the lush forest.

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

“One positioned, pointing using an arrow,” he remembers. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I commenced to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbor to these itinerant people, who avoid interaction with strangers.

A new study issued by a rights organisation claims remain a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. This tribe is considered to be the largest. The study claims a significant portion of these tribes may be eliminated over the coming ten years should administrations neglect to implement further to protect them.

It argues the biggest threats stem from deforestation, mining or operations for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely susceptible to basic illness—consequently, the report says a danger is caused by contact with evangelical missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishing community of seven or eight clans, sitting elevated on the edges of the local river deep within the Peruvian Amazon, half a day from the nearest settlement by boat.

The area is not designated as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and logging companies function here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the racket of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their woodland disturbed and ruined.

Within the village, residents report they are torn. They dread the tribal weapons but they also have profound admiration for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and want to safeguard them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to modify their traditions. This is why we keep our separation,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the village, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia, a woman with a young girl, was in the forest picking produce when she noticed them.

“We detected cries, sounds from others, many of them. Like it was a whole group calling out,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had met the group and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was still racing from terror.

“As operate loggers and companies destroying the jungle they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react with us. That's what scares me.”

Recently, two individuals were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One man was wounded by an bow to the gut. He survived, but the other man was located dead after several days with multiple puncture marks in his body.

The administration maintains a policy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, making it forbidden to commence interactions with them.

The strategy began in Brazil after decades of lobbying by community representatives, who saw that first exposure with remote tribes lead to entire communities being eliminated by sickness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the broader society, 50% of their people perished within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are extremely vulnerable—epidemiologically, any interaction could introduce illnesses, and even the most common illnesses could wipe them out,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion can be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a community.”

For local residents of {