Isolated Amazonian tribe seen for first time

An isolated Amazonian tribe with no known contact with the outside world has been spotted for the first time by a drone flying over the Brazilian jungle.

The country's National Indian Foundation said on Thursday that footage released this week shows several people walking through a wide clearing made in a patch of dense jungle in the Javary River valley, near the border with Peru, reports CNN.

One of the figures is seen carrying a spear or pole of some kind, while four or five others stand near what look like thatched structures.

None of the people spotted by the drone appear to notice their observer, which is flying high above the trees surrounding them.

The foundation, known as Funai, is tasked with protecting the interests of indigenous tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon, many of whom have seen their homes devastated by colonialism and foreign diseases, as well as ongoing logging and mining operations.

"It is the only government department in the world which is dedicated to the protection of indigenous peoples who have little or no contact with national society and other tribes," CNN quoted Survival International, an NGO dedicated to tribal peoples' rights, as saying on Thursday.

The Javary River region is home to eight contacted tribes, and 11 confirmed isolated tribes, Funai said.

"This is the largest quantity of records confirmed groups of isolated indigenous peoples in the country," the agency added.

According to Survival International, there are currently more than 100 tribes around the world living in isolation.

--IANS

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