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Resource: AOL News; Photos from: Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP
Men from an isolated tribe point arrows toward the sky from their home in Brazil’s Amazon jungle as a small plane snaps photos from above. The tribe is among the last on Earth that has had no contact with the outside world, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation, or Funai, reported last month.
Resource: AOL News; Photos from: Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP
Jose Carlos Meirelles Jr., an expert in uncontacted tribes for Funai, recently confessed that his group had actually been aware of the tribe for about 20 years. The photos were taken and released in the press in a move to persuade local governments to change their logging policies in the area.
Resource: AOL News; Photos from: Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP
The photos show “strong and healthy” warriors, six huts and a large planted area. The tribe’s camp is in a protected area along the Envira River, near the Peruvian border.
Resource: AOL News; Photos from: Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP
Illegal logging is pushing the tribe from its homeland and threatening its way of life, said Survival International, a group that advocates for the rights of indigenous people. It defended the decision to disturb the tribe by flying over and taking photos in order to further the group’s cause.
Resource: AOL News; Photos from: Gleison Miranda, Funai / AP
Meirelles says he has no regrets and plans to keep the tribe’s location secret. “They can decide when they want contact, not me or anyone else.”Sources: AP, CNN, guardian.co.uk
Story Behind ‘Lost Tribe’ Photos Revealed
(June 22) – It wasn’t so much a hoax as a publicity stunt. The famous photos of the “lost tribe” in the Amazon forest are real, but the remarkable story behind them is not
The Observer on Sunday reported that Meirelles confessed that his group, the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency, otherwise known as Funai, had known the whereabouts of the tribe, flew over the group to take pictures and published the photos to bolster a campaign to protect endangered tribes in the area from the logging industry.
“When we think we might have found an isolated tribe,” he told al-Jazeera, “a sertanista like me walks in the forest for two or three years to gather evidence and we mark it in our [global positioning system]. We then map the territory the Indians occupy and we draw that protected territory without making contact with them. And finally we set up a small outpost where we can monitor their protection.”
Meirelles said he borrowed a plane for a few days and flew over a 150-kilometer area where he thought the tribe may be, based off GPS data he had about the tribe as well as Google Earth co-ordinates that showed clearings in the forest. After seeing only huts for two days, he finally spotted the Indians hours before he had to return the plane.
“When I saw them painted red, I was satisfied, I was happy,” he said. “Because painted red means they are ready for war, which to me says they are happy and healthy defending their territory.”
The existence of the tribe had actually been known for about a century. Funai learned about this small group of Indians about 20 years ago.
Though many are likely to criticize Meirelles, Survival International and Funai for the flyover – clearly disturbing the tribe – they all defend their decision to take the photos and publish them, claiming the media coverage over the photos last month forced Peru to re-examine its logging policy near where the tribe lives.
Meirelles says he has no regrets and plans to keep the tribe’s location secret. “They can decide when they want contact, not me or anyone else.”
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