New footage has emerged of the Mashco-Piro tribe, believed to be the world's largest uncontacted indigenous group, as they face increasing pressure from the logging industry in Peru's Amazon rainforest. The images, captured by Survival International, show members of the tribe on the banks of the Las Piedras River, just miles from logging concessions.
The Mashco-Piro, also known as the Cujareno or Nomole people, are nomadic hunter-gatherers who live deep in the Manu National Park in the Madre de Dios region. They have no contact with the outside world, living completely naked with wild hair and red and yellow warpaint. However, their isolation is under threat from deforestation, with around 1,100 square miles of Peru's forests cut down each year—80% of it illegally, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Survival International reports that logging companies, including Canales Tahuamanu, hold timber concessions within the tribe's territory. The company has built over 120 miles of roads to extract timber from 130,000 acres of forest. This encroachment has led to clashes between loggers and the Mashco-Piro. Between 2015 and 2022, at least four people died in such encounters, and in 2024, two further deaths and two disappearances were reported following a clash near the Pariamanu River.
The Peruvian Ministry of Culture is investigating the latest incident, which involved workers opening a trail in the forest. The ministry stated that the attack "may have caused deaths, injuries and disappearances" on behalf of a logging company. Rosa Padilha of the Brazilian Catholic bishops' Indigenous Missionary Council noted that the tribe is "always on the run" from loggers, occasionally crossing into Brazil to take Amazon turtle eggs.
Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International, said: "These incredible images show that a large number of isolated Mashco Piro live alone a few miles from where the loggers are about to start their operations." The tribe's continued existence hangs in the balance as their homeland faces relentless exploitation.
