Members of the "Mascho-Piro" tribe, considered to be an "uncontacted" tribe of the Amazon as they have had little to no contacted whatsoever with the modern world, have ventured outside of their lands to attempt contact with the outside world for only the second time.
The tribe, who live in a very remote location of the Manu National Park, are thought to have remained entirely isolated for at least the past 20 years. They first ventured outside of their territory to attempt contact with the outside world in 2011, when they were spotted, and photographed, on the bank of a river.
The Manu River, Manu Cultural Zone.
The most recent second occurence took place in June 2013 and was filmed over 3 days by Manu forest rangers. The video footage has only recently been released this week by the local rainforest campaign group the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP). The video footage the shows members of the Mascho-Piro tribe - men, women and children - in a tense attempt to contact another tribe. The second tribe, who are not an uncontacted tribe, remained at distance and floated a canoe of bananas over the river to the Mascho-Piro. The Peruvian government does not allow any close contact with uncontacted tribes, as their immune systems would not be able to cope with even simple Western diseases such as the flu which would kill them.
A 2011 photo showing members of the Mascho-Piro tribe. Photograph courtesy of uncontactedtribes.org.
Sightings of the Mascho-Piro tribe are becoming more common and it is feared that the tribe are becoming increasingly less isolated.
Saul Puerta Pena, director of AIDESEP, says the video provides clear evidence of the existence of isolated tribes.
"Now the government doesn't have an argument to tell us that our indigenous brothers don't exist. Their response was always that these indigenous people who choose to live in isolation didn't exist."
Although tourists can visit Manu on Amazon jungle holidays, including with Go Andes on our Manu holidays, these jungle tours mainly only visit the "Cultural Zone" of Manu, with entry to the "Manu National Park" strictly controlled and restricted in order to protect the wonderful animal and plant biodiversity and the indigenous communities that exist in that part of the world. We completely agree with this policy and would never advocate any contact or attempted contact with uncontacted tribes in Peru or anywhere else on the planet.
Published 24/08/2013.
