The Massaco people – who are named after the Amazonian river that runs through their community – have been seen up close for the first time thanks to a local organisation
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.
The pictures capture the tribe as they plant spikes in the ground believed to be intended for the boots and unprotected feet of people intending to cross their tribal borders. The spikes aren’t the standout discovery from the set of pictures, however, as they show what experts state is a resemblance to another regional tribe.
Altair Algayer, a Funai agent who has spent more than 30 years protecting Massaco territory, said they appear similar to the Sirionó people, another one of the more than 28 believed to populate the Amazon. The Sirionó live in the Bolivian portion of the Amazon, and their population is slightly larger – being composed of more than 700 people – and better studied.
Mr Algayer said the photographs still don’t necessarily reveal much about the Massaco, however. He said: “Now, with the detailed photographs, it’s possible to see the resemblance to the Sirionó people, who live on the opposite bank of the Guaporé River, in Bolivia. But still, we can’t say who they are. There’s a lot that’s still a mystery.”