Be a responsible traveller. Show tribal people respect and meet them on their premises. Visiting people with a different lifestyle and culture could sometimes be a very rewarding adventure, but be aware of that many tribal communities are extremely vulnerable to outside influences. All tribal people need to be protected from tourists in order to preserve their unique lifestyle and cultures. Travellers should understand that some tribes would like to live undisturbed, and that visit would be an intrusion.
Mashco-Piro 'uncontacted' Peruvian tribe on photo!
2012-02-01
The Mashco-Piro tribe is found in southeastern Peru near the Manu national park.
Chance encounters near an isolated Amazon tribe have resulted in the most detailed pictures ever taken of them. New images of an uncontacted Peruvian tribe reveal a small band of people, clad in little more than beads and bands of fabric, sitting by a river in the southeastern part of the country.
The photographs, released by advocacy group Survival International, are the closest-ever glimpse of uncontacted Indians ever caught on camera, according to the organization. They provide considerably more detail than earlier images taken from aircraft over settlements.
The people in the photograph belong to the Mashco-Piro tribe. This tribe likely descends from a group that was attacked and displaced in 1894, when rubber baron Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald encroached on their ancestral lands.
Survival International, a group that works to protect tribes from harm caused by deforestation and other environmental concerns, released the photos with some commentary. The group says the tribe is one of about 100 uncontacted tribes left in the world.
Surviving members of the tribe maintain voluntary separation from the outside world, though oil exploration may be encroaching on their solitude, according to Survival International. [See new photos of uncontacted tribe]