By Brazilian law, no one but a select few government workers is allowed to trespass on the land of the Kawahira, a tiny community of nomads that lives in the Amazon. They’re one of the country’s uncontacted peoples, indigenous groups that live in isolation from the rest of the modern world. Which makes this quick video of nine members of the tribe making their way through the jungle a major find. Up until now, the tribe’s existence has largely been determined by the discovery of abandoned habitations and tools, according to TreeHugger.
The footage was shot by an employee of the Brazilian National Foundation of the Indian (FUNAI), the governmental body charged with preserving the lands and rights of the country’s indigenous peoples, a significant portion of whom live in isolation. FUNAI employees are allowed into Kawahira territory in order to ensure outsiders aren’t sneaking in and jeopardizing the tribe’s right to self-determination.
As of 2007, FUNAI reported 67 uncontacted tribes like the Kawahira in the country, 27 of which were discovered between 2005 and 2007. Brazil, home to 60 percent of the 2.7 million square mile Amazon rainforest, has more uncontacted peoples than any other country in the world.
There’s some very creepy zooming-in on the children of the group, but all in all it’s a very cool, very rare look, although it’s hard to see much beyond flashes of skin between the trees.