Photographer makes rare record of isolated tribe in forest in Acre; See pictures

              The sky darkened and heavy rain forced the helicopter over a forest in Acre to land. The storm was slow to pass and the crew decided to return to their starting point before dark.

The rain thwarted the trip, but provided a rare and historical record of an isolated indigenous tribe near the border with Peru. "It's like finding a needle in the haystack," said photographer Ricardo Stuckert.

BBC Brazil had access to part of Stuckert's records last Sunday. He traveled to Caxinauá village (also in Acre), where he would do a photo session for the book Índios Brasileiros. The work will document the routine of 12 Brazilian tribes and will be launched on April 19, 2017 - Indian Day.                                                                                                                                                                But he was accompanied by experienced sertanista José Carlos Meirelles, who worked for the National Indian Foundation (Funai) for 40 years, and the pair decided to investigate a more quiet area of the forest.                                                                "After the rain, we came back and saw some malocas made of straw, we were flying very fast, but we saw plantations and decided to go back, we found the tribe and I started to shoot," says the photographer.                                                                                                                                          In identifying a possible threat, the Indians reacted. The stares of surprise and anger against the helicopter were recorded by Stuckert's powerful long-range lenses. The tribe threw dozens of arrows in an attempt to fend off the aircraft, which flew over the region for seven minutes.                                                                                                                                                                                                         Meirelles himself evaluates flight as intrusive to the isolated community. "It is an important record, but it is a certain aggression, so we take care not to fly low so as not to frighten us so much. On the other hand, the world needs to know that they exist and that we need policies to conserve them" , Said Meirelles, who demarcated areas of isolated tribes during the 20 years he worked in the region.

 

   

He estimates that the tribe, identified only as "Maitá Indians," because it is close to the river of the same name, is composed of about 300 people. The number, he says, is quite large for an isolated village.

Cotton

According to the sertanista, there is no report or document of approach of this tribe with civilized towns and even other groups.

After the overfly and a first analysis of the photos of Stuckert, José Carlos Meirelles identified details that reveal some customs of the isolated Indians.

"Women wear a saiota and they have cotton plantations, and they are signs of a weaving and spinning people." Some of them also have unusual hair: bald to the middle of the head and long back half, "he said.

The sertanista affirmed that the Indians are higher than average and the men tie the penis to a kind of tape. The expert also identified that the tribe plants corn, bananas, manioc and potatoes.

The group photographed lives in an area of ​​630 thousand hectares where there are three indigenous reserves: Kampa Isolados do Envira, Alto Tarauacá and Riozinho do Alto Envira. The sertanista said that despite the complete isolation, the approximate location of the tribe was already known,        In the photos, no objects or characteristics that may have been influenced or taken by other peoples have been identified.

One of the factors pointed out by the specialists for the survival of the tribe is the fact that it is located in a region of difficult access of loggers, garimpeiros and rubber tappers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Stuckert, who worked as a photographer for the Presidency of the Republic for eight years and has 28 years of experience in the profession, said the Indian record is among "the most exciting" of his career.

"I would like to go back there, but I think we can not have contact. We need to preserve this and I want my photos to show that we have to map everything that is close and protect them from having external problems," he said. He said.

The photographer said he was "amazed" by recording for the first time in his career a population that never had contact with an isolated population.                                                                                                                                                                              The sertanista José Carlos Meirelles also shows happiness for having seen the isolated Indians, but said he was worried about the possible progress of deforestation and rubber tappers.

"I was very happy to know that they are well. It was great to see that they have a patch and they are in their space, the problem is that nobody knows until when."