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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade within in the of Peru rainforest when he noticed footsteps drawing near through the thick jungle.

He realized that he stood hemmed in, and halted.

“A single individual positioned, pointing with an projectile,” he remembers. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I began to flee.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a local to these nomadic people, who avoid interaction with foreigners.

An updated study issued by a advocacy organization states there are at least 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” in existence in the world. The Mashco Piro is thought to be the biggest. It says half of these tribes might be wiped out in the next decade if governments fail to take more to protect them.

It claims the greatest risks come from deforestation, digging or exploration for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to common disease—consequently, the study states a risk is presented by contact with proselytizers and online personalities in pursuit of attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's hamlet of several clans, perched atop on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the Peruvian rainforest, half a day from the most accessible town by boat.

The territory is not classified as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

Tomas says that, sometimes, the racket of heavy equipment can be heard continuously, and the tribe members are observing their forest damaged and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants say they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold profound regard for their “relatives” residing in the woodland and wish to protect them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not alter their traditions. This is why we maintain our space,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the damage to the community's way of life, the danger of aggression and the possibility that timber workers might subject the community to diseases they have no resistance to.

At the time in the village, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old child, was in the jungle collecting fruit when she detected them.

“We heard calls, cries from people, a large number of them. As though there were a large gathering shouting,” she informed us.

That was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was continually racing from fear.

“Since there are deforestation crews and companies clearing the jungle they're running away, maybe out of fear and they come near us,” she said. “We don't know how they will behave with us. That's what frightens me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the tribe while catching fish. One man was struck by an bow to the stomach. He recovered, but the second individual was found lifeless days later with multiple puncture marks in his frame.

Authorities in Peru maintains a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, establishing it as prohibited to start interactions with them.

The strategy was first adopted in Brazil following many years of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who observed that first interaction with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being wiped out by sickness, hardship and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their people perished within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very at risk—in terms of health, any exposure may transmit diseases, and even the most common illnesses could wipe them out,” says a representative from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion can be highly damaging to their way of life and survival as a society.”

For those living nearby of {