The Amazon's last lost tribe: Never-before-seen pictures capture the lives of Peruvian nomads who are untouched by civilisation

 

Never-before-seen photographs of the Mashco Piro tribe have emerged, revealing previously untold secrets of their mysterious way of life. For at least 600 years the indigenous group has lived in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Peru and Brazil with no contact with the outside world. But logging, drug-trafficking and the government are putting new pressures on the mysterious tribe. As their ancestral land in the Amazonian rainforest is encroached on and their food sources threatened, the tribe has been forced to appear in public more frequently than ever before, leading to a spate of recent killings. They are apparently responsible for killing two men in three years by shooting them in the chest with a bow and arrow. In 2011 they killed local guide Shaco Flores, a Matsigenka Indian (pictured bottom left). Shaco had given them machetes, pots and pans for 20 years and had developed a good relationship with the clan. The Peruvian government has made the decision this week to initiate contact with the tribe - an act that is forbidden in Peruvian law. MAILONLINE