In the Amazon jungle, near the border of Peru and Brazil, is a section of restricted jungle closely guarded by the governments of the two countries. The area named Acre is home to a number of uncontacted tribes of humans who have never seen civilization.
New pictures have emerged from a photographer on a nearby photo expedition. Severe weather 
forced photographer Ricardo Stuckerts helicopter to detour on the way back to camp, when out of the trees came a clearing. Weather still an issue, the crew had no time to marvel at what they saw, but just hours later they returned with tribal expert José Carlos Meirelles.
“I felt like I was a painter in the last century,” Stuckert said, describing his reaction to seeing the natives. “To think that in the 21st century, there are still people who have no contact with civilization, living like their ancestors did 20,000 years ago—it’s a powerful emotion.”
The same tribe gained global attention in 2008, when agents from Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency, Fundação Nacional do Índio—known by its acronym, FUNAI—released photographs of tribesmen in red body paint launching arrows at their low-flying airplane.
“These groups change locations every four years or so,” Meirelles told National Geographic by phone from his home. “They move around. But it’s the same group.”
The tribe’s initial panic seemed to give way to curiosity by the time the team returned a few hours later for another look. “They seemed more inquisitive than fearful,” said Stuckert. “I felt there was a mutual curiosity, on their part and mine.”
The people looked well fed and healthy, he said. Plots of corn, manioc, and bananas surrounding the cluster of communal huts—known as a maloca—seemed capable of sustaining as many as 80 to a hundred people.
An up close shot of the above photo
An up close shot of the above photo
An up close shot of the above photo
