Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil
The tribe was photographed as its members pointed bows and arrows at an aeroplane flying overhead. Image: Gleison Miranda, Funai.
The government said the name of the tribe was not known but the warriors were strong and healthy, which we can see maybe it s true.
The photos are from a remote part of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil’s Acre region.
The government said the images would prove those who doubted the tribe’s existence wrong.
More than half the world’s 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru.
Pointing bows and arrows up at the camera.
Painted a bright orange, two members of the tribe emerged from their huts to threaten the helicopter as it flew low over their small village.
Others could be seen in the background, apparently startled by the presence of the noisy machine in their skies.
“We did the over-flight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,’ said Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles, an expert on “uncontacted” tribes, who works for the Brazilian government’s Indian affairs department.
“This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.”
Mr Meirelles said the tribe lived in six small communities, each with about six communal houses, in an area known as the Terra Indigena Kampa e Isolados do Envira, close to the Peru border.
In spite of the threat of the encroaching world, the number of Envira Indians is thought to be increasing, Mr Meirelles said.
This could lead to conflict between the displaced tribes and an estimated 500 Indians already living on the Brazilian side, he said. Indians were also susceptible to contracting diseases from outsiders.
Survival International, a group London-based group which defends the rights of tribal people, estimates there are more than 100 remaining isolated indigenous tribes worldwide, with more than half in either Peru or Brazil.
“These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist,” said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International.
“The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct.”
The government says it wants to help protect the tribe’s land.
‘Monumental crime’ (From BBC)
Survival International said that although this particular group is increasing in number, others in the area are at risk from illegal logging.
The photos were taken during several flights over one of the most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil’s Acre region.
They show tribe members outside thatched huts, surrounded by the dense jungle, pointing bows and arrows up at the camera.
He described the threats to such tribes and their land as “a monumental crime against the natural world” and “further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the ‘civilised’ ones, treat the world”.
Disease is also a risk, as members of tribal groups that have been contacted in the past have died of illnesses that they have no defence against, ranging from chicken pox to the common cold.
