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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small glade far in the of Peru jungle when he noticed footsteps drawing near through the thick jungle.

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

“One person positioned, aiming with an projectile,” he recalls. “Somehow he noticed I was here and I began to flee.”

He found himself encountering members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—was practically a local to these wandering people, who avoid interaction with outsiders.

A recent study by a rights organisation claims exist a minimum of 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left worldwide. This tribe is considered to be the largest. The report claims half of these communities might be eliminated in the next decade if governments neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

The report asserts the most significant dangers are from timber harvesting, extraction or operations for oil. Isolated tribes are highly susceptible to ordinary illness—consequently, the study says a danger is presented by exposure with proselytizers and online personalities looking for clicks.

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

The village is a fishermen's hamlet of a handful of households, perched elevated on the banks of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest village by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a protected area for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard day and night, and the community are seeing their woodland disrupted and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are divided. They fear the projectiles but they also possess strong respect for their “kin” who live in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not change their way of life. This is why we preserve our distance,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the damage to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of conflict and the possibility that loggers might introduce the community to illnesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. A young mother, a young mother with a toddler daughter, was in the forest picking food when she noticed them.

“We heard cries, shouts from people, many of them. Like there were a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

This marked the first time she had met the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was persistently pounding from terror.

“Since there are loggers and operations clearing the forest they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they come in proximity to us,” she explained. “We don't know how they might react towards us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were confronted by the Mashco Piro while fishing. A single person was hit by an projectile to the stomach. He survived, but the other person was discovered deceased after several days with multiple arrow wounds in his body.

The administration follows a approach of avoiding interaction with isolated people, making it illegal to commence encounters with them.

The strategy was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that first contact with remote tribes could lead to whole populations being wiped out by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country came into contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their population succumbed within a matter of years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure might transmit diseases, and even the most common illnesses might decimate them,” says a representative from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any interaction or disruption could be very harmful to their existence and well-being as a society.”

For local residents of {