Human safaris threaten the Mashco-Piro in Peru

Evangelist missionaries come into contact with young members of the Mashco-Piro tribe. Photo taken by Fenamad.

In the past few months, tour groups in Peru have been organising “human safaris,” promising to bring tourists into contact with the Mashco-Piro, a tribe living isolated in the Peruvian Amazon. Our Observer explained the grave consequences of this illegal activity, both degrading and dangerous for the Mashco-Piro.

The 600 members of the tiny Mashco-Piro community live in the Madre de Dios reserve in southeastern Peru. This protected zone, located in the centre of Manú National Park, is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is difficult to access and, moreover, contact with the tribe is forbidden by Peruvian authorities. The Mashco-Piro are one of 15 different tribes in Peru who live completely cut off from the outside world. There are only about 100 of these groups in the world. These isolated peoples are particularly vulnerable to common illnesses such as the flu or measles, sicknesses which annihilated entire tribes in the past.

In the past, people working in the petrol industry-- the Peruvian government has ceded over 70% of its portion of the Amazon rainforest to petrol companies -- and illegal loggers have been the largest threat to the isolated indigenous people of Peru. In the early 1980s, workers petrol prospecting for Shell came into contact with an isolated tribe called the Nahua. In only a few years, roughly half of the Nahua had died.

However, for the past few weeks, another threat has suddenly sprung up: tourist operations run out of the nearby town of Cuzco. Local tour companies find tourists looking for something exotic and charge them vast sums of money for the chance to come into contact with these local tribes. Because such practices could result in a prison sentence in Peru, these operations are all clandestine.

A group of tourists on a small boat speak with Mashco-Piro tribe members. Photo taken by Fenamad.

"Tourism agencies make a lot of money thanks to this practice"

The “human safaris” in this part of the Amazon are nothing new. Two years ago, I warned local authorities about the danger caused by these activities. Sadly, my concerns were ignored. The problem has probably resurfaced over the past few months because the tribes are more visible during the dry season, which falls between May and October. They often come to collect turtle eggs alongside the river.

The photos that Fenamad published on Facebook to denounce these tourist operations were taken on September 9. On that day, one of our members accompanied park rangers, who travelled by patrol boat into one of the forbidden areas. There, they discovered a group of people in a small boat belonging to a tour group based in Cuzco. Farther down the river, they saw evangelist missionaries next to several young Mascho Piro. A few yards beyond, we could see a heap of Western-looking clothes. When the authorities asked them what they were doing there, the missionaries claimed they were only there to bring the Mashco-Piro community bananas and they said that the clothes had been left by tourists who came before them.

Mashco-Piro children wearing t-shirts. Photo taken by Fenamad.

 

"They are cut off from all outside contact, so even a common cold could be fatal"

Aside from the fact that they are voyeuristic and humiliating for the tribe, these visits also pose a real threat to the health and survival of the Mashco-Piro. Cut off entirely from all outside contact, they have no immunity to common illnesses and even a common cold could be fatal. But certain scrupleless tourist companies don’t care because human safaris are fantastic moneymakers. According to my research, each trip costs about $1,500 [Editor’s note: equivalent to 1,200 euros].

Moreover, these tourists often come with food, which makes the Indians happy but establishes a negative precedent. When park ranger patrol boats or other authorised people enter the park without food, sometimes the Mascho Piro are very hostile towards them [Editor's note: Recently, a group of Mashco-Piro armed with arrows got angry at rangers for this reason].

Traditionally, the Mashco-Piro wear small loincloths. Photo taken by Fenamad.

When contacted by FRANCE 24, the Peruvian culture minister, whose job it is to protect the isolated tribes, said that the park rangers were not able to keep the entire Manú park under surveillance-- as the park is spread out over roughly 2 million hectares. He said this is one reason that the human safaris continue to take place, undetected by authorities.

Post written with FRANCE 24 journalist Grégoire Remund (@gregoireremund).