Funai Uses Drone to Film Isolated Tribe in Amazon

08/22/2018 - 16h26

The Brazillian government released this Tuesday (21) drone footage that confirm the existence of an isolate indigenous ethnicity in the rainsforest located at Javari valley, in the border between Brazil and Peru.

The footage was collected in 2017, during one of the five drone flights accomplished by a expedition sent to the area after other natives claimed that poachers were threatening the unknown tribe.

	Adam Mol - acervo/ funai (2017)
	The images were taken by a FUNAI expedition last year on one of five drone flights

Funai (National Indian Foundation), the government agency responsible for indigenous peoples, preferred to use a drone to keep distance, in order to avoid transmitting diseases to the tribe. According to officials, the tribe is located in a difficult to reach location, distant 111 miles on boat and another 75 miles on foot in dense forest, from the nearest Funai base in the Amazon rainforest.

The agency also said it had no way to confirm the number of individuals, but the footage has shown at least 16 people in a clearing dotted with huts. There are three other villages in the area, previously seen in flights. Little is known about this group, but experts say they probably speak the pano language.

Funai's ethno-environmental division in the Eirunepé (AM) base made their latest expedition in the area from July 16th to August 1st. Javari valley is home to 16 contacted ethnicities, two of recent contact and there ate records of other 16 isolated tribes, with 11 confirmed, according to Funai.

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

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