The community’s size has more than doubled since the 1990s
Incredible new photos from the Amazon rainforest have given us a first-look at a thriving indigenous community.
The images, captured on automatic cameras, show the uncontacted Massaco people quietly thriving near the Brazilian border with Bolivia, the Guardian reports.
This is despite the intense pressures they face from loggers, miners and ranchers in the area.
The tribe are named after the river that runs through their region, and has an estimated population of 200-300 people, according to the Guardian.
The pictures were released by the Brazilian National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai), who said the size of the community was more than double what it was in the early 1990s.
Altair Algayer, a government agent with Funai who has spent more than three decades protecting the Massaco’s territory, said the tribe was similar to the Sirionó people.
He told the Guardian: “But still, we can’t say who they are. There’s a lot that’s still a mystery.”
Some of the photos reveal that the Massaco people have placed camouflaged wooden spikes in the area to pierce the feet and tires of intruders, such as loggers and drug traffickers.
They are known to hunt with bows almost ten-foot long.
The increase in their population points to a wider trend in the resilience of isolated tribes in the Amazon rainforest.
However, this only comes after centuries of communities and tribes such as this being decimated by occupation and their environment being destroyed.
To combat this, Brazil introduced a ‘no-contact policy’ in 1987. This prevents anyone from making direct contact with isolated tribes to prevent the spread of deadly contagious diseases, according to the Guardian’s report, and has been adopted by other South American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
There are 61 confirmed groups living in the Amazon and Gran Chaco region, according to the International Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact.
Despite their success, researchers warn that illegal land grabs and environmental devastation continue to threaten the region and programs, such as Funai, require more funding to protect isolated communities.
