Uncontacted Amazon tribe seen for very first time in astonishing new photos
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Startling new footage has shown members of an uncontacted Amazon tribe up close and personal for the first time ever. The Massaco tribe consists of just over 200 people, all of whom lived, tucked away, in the depths of the "lungs of the planet", with locals legally compelled to leave them alone. New photos released by Brazilian officials have shown the tribe from an arm's length thanks to tactically placed cameras.
Officials from the Brazilian National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai) have long forbidden contact with the tribe, but the organisation occasionally lightly intervenes to prevent extended contact with the outside world. The new footage taken via automatic cameras shows a group of naked men inspecting sets of implements left out by officials.
The pictures, first released via The Guardian, show seven people gathered in-shot inspecting the forest floor around the cameras while armed with wooden sticks. They were seen walking around the area where Funai occasionally leaves metal gifts for the tribe to prevent them venturing elsewhere for similar items from logging camps, farms or other businesses operating nearby.
The Massaco are under near constant pressure from several fronts, including drug trafficking operations and miners, but despite the encroaching threat, they have thrived. Their numbers have increased to around 200 to 250 people, more than double their population as recorded in the mid-1990s.
Previous pictures also taken from arms-reach - this time from satellites - have confirmed the group tends to move, and that previous settlements over the last few decades have been abandoned. The latest images were taken between 2019 and 2024, and were published for the first time today and, as well as collecting the tools, show the tribes planting deterrents for outsiders.
