Living in the world we exist in - surrounded by computers, aeroplanes and iPhones - it's hard to believe that anyone has managed to stay completely away from the technological sphere. But, while it might seem crazy, it's true that there are multiple reclusive tribes around the world that have nothing to do with the modern world. This was highlighted recently when remarkable footage was released of one uncontacted indigenous man who has lived alone in an Amazon forest for at least 22 years.

Known as "the indigenous man in the hole", the man in question is believed to be the sole survivor from an isolated tribe, a group of six, five of whom were killed during an attack by farmers in 1995; survivors of other indigenous groups in the region have described how farmers shot at their backs when they fled raids on their village.

Thought to be in his 50s now, the unidentified man survives by sustaining himself on pigs, monkeys and birds caught using a bow and arrow, trapping his prey in hidden holes filled with sharpened staves of wood. He apparently lives in a shelter built deep in the forest, sleeping in a hammock strung over yet another hole in the ground, and has protected his area since the 1990s. It appears he has only ever been caught on film before once; a glimpse of his face filmed in 1998 was shown in the Brazilian documentary Corumbiara.

In the video, he looks to be in excellent health and is seen semi-naked, swinging an axe vigorously as he fells a tree. "He is very well, hunting, maintaining some plantations of papaya, corn," said Altair Algayer, a regional coordinator for the Brazilian government indigenous agency Funai in the Amazon state of Rondônia, who was with the team who filmed the footage from a distance. "He has good health and a good physical shape doing all those exercises."

In addition, Fiona Watson, the research and advocacy director of Survival International, a non-profit group that works to protect indigenous peoples, spoke about the footage, stating that it was "extraordinary", particularly when you consider the fact that the 8,070 hectares of protected forest the man lives in is completely surrounded by ranches and farms. "Funai has a duty to show that he is well and alive," she said. "The crucial thing is Funai has managed to keep his territory. The fact he is still alive gives you hope. He is the ultimate symbol, if you like."

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The man was first located by Funai in 1996 and the group have been monitoring him ever since. Although they have a policy of avoiding contact with isolated groups, in an attempt to help him, the Brazilian government indigenous agency reportedly left axes, machetes and seeds traditionally planted by indigenous people for the man to find, however, have claimed that he wants nothing to do with mainstream society. "I understand his decision," said regional coordinator Algayer. "It is his sign of resistance, and a little repudiation, hate, knowing the story he went through."

At the moment, Funai specialists think that there are 113 uncontacted tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon - 27 groups have been confirmed so far - and one tribe living outside. In addition, there are 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru, Watson, as well as others in Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.

Did you know that there are still tribes that live without contact with the modern world? In fact, there are an estimated 113 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, with 27 confirmed sightings, and the Brazilian government has recently released incredibly captivating drone footage of one of these tribes, providing us with an unprecedented insight into how its members live on a day-to-day basis

The video of this never-before-seen tribe was released last Tuesday night, but it was actually filmed last year by Brazil's agency for indigenous affairs. Drones were used to capture the rare footage in order to monitor the isolated tribes. To see the incredible drone footage of this never-before-seen tribe for yourself, check out the video below:

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In the video, you can clearly see 16 members of the tribe walking around. One appears to have a bow and arrow and there is evidence of crops and deforestation. Handmade tools and lodging have also been discovered. The tribe lives in the Vale do Javari region, which is in the southwest part of the Amazon. This area houses more tribes than any other part of Brazil and has been an area of interest to researchers for years, but the recently released video is the first of its kind.

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"These images have the power to make society and the government reflect on the importance of protecting these groups," Wallace Bastos, president of the indigenous affairs agency, said.

So little is known about this tribe that researchers don't even know its name. Guesses have been made not only about what it calls itself, but also about the members' ethnicity and the language they speak. The goal in discovering more about these hidden cultures is that knowledge can help the Brazilian government better protect them.

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The agency does not seek to make contact with the tribes. After all, these tribes do not attempt to make contact with the outside world at all. "If they wanted contact with the outside world, they would seek out ways to communicate with us," said Bruno Pereira who works for the agency.

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So far, 107 isolated groups in Brazil have been registered. It seems they are aware of cities and villages in their proximity but traumatic experiences with outsides have led to maintaining solitary tribal lives. For example, last year 10 tribespeople were allegedly killed by gold miners who stumbled into the area. This isn't the first deadly attack on a tribe. There have been many clashes with nearby civilizations and even epidemics when viruses unknown among the tribes are passed from outsiders. Without modern medicine, entire tribes can be wiped out.

Take a closer look at the drone footage to get even more of an insight into their world:

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In one tribe, all inhabitants except for one were murdered by farmers 22 years ago. Footage of the lone survivor was captured by researchers who nicknamed him "the man in the hole". He has been seen attempting to survive alone without any other human contact.

He received his nickname after he was often found to be digging holes in the ground, which were for him to hide in or to set traps for animals. He has not attempted to make contact with any outsiders but has accepted handmade weapons that have been left for him by the indigenous affairs agency.

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Despite giving him makeshift items such as axes and machetes, the agency has a policy of not interfering with his way of life. They have never offered any modern tools or goods and have never let any of the researchers be seen by him.

"The man in the hole" uses a bow and arrow to hunt pigs, birds, and monkeys, wears nothing but a loincloth, and lives in a hut made from local trees. He also has managed to create his own papaya and corn plantation.

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"I understand his decision. It is his sign of resistance, and a little repudiation, hate, knowing the story he went through," said Altair Algayer, who also works at the indigenous affairs agency. As a result, the agency has granted "the man in the hole" a territory of 8,070 hectares to protect his way of life.

The agency really wants to be able to show that these tribes are alive and thriving. In order to do that, they must grant land territory to them. This has been a source of conflict for some greedy outsiders who would want the land for themselves.

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Similar to "the man in the hole", researchers have been monitoring the long-lost Moxihatetema tribe who live in an isolated part of the South American jungle. They seemingly went missing for a period of time, but images taken from a passing airplane revealed that they were alive and well in a portion of the Amazon rainforest in Northern Brazil.

They did not seem to appreciate the small intrusion from outside as one of the photos revealed the tribespeople not looking too pleased. One even shook a spear toward the camera as the plane passed by overhead.

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This tribe is heavily monitored because of concerns over clashes with nearby miners who illegally trespass onto the protected land in search of gold. Hopefully, the use of drones and other new technology will better enable the agency to monitor these tribes with little interference.

It is important that we learn all we can about these indigenous people so that they can be better protected and their cultures and ways of living can remain preserved.

A conservationist has released the clearest footage ever recorded of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe, and it has sparked theories online after viewers noticed several strange details in the video.The video, shared during an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast on January 14, shows members of the Mashco Piro people, an isolated Indigenous group living in the Peruvian Amazon near the border with Brazil. Conservationist and author Paul Rosolie, who has spent more than two decades working in the region, described the moment as one of the most profound of his career.“In order for any of this to make sense, I had to show you this footage … This has not been shown ever before. This is a world first,” he told Fridman.The Mashco Piro are believed to number around 750 individuals, making them one of the largest uncontacted tribes in existence. Their territory lies in a dense, remote area of rainforest that is increasingly threatened by logging and illegal encroachment.Because of strict protections against contact, intended to safeguard such groups from diseases they have no immunity to, footage of uncontacted tribes is typically shot from afar and often grainy. “The only thing you’ve ever seen are these blurry images … from 100 meters away,” Rosolie explained. “And we’re sitting there with, you know, 800mm with a 2x teleconverter.”Author Paul Rosolie has spent two decades working in the Amazon. Credit: Taylor Hill / GettyA Mesmerizing but Tense EncounterIn the clip, the Mashco Piro emerge from the jungle through a literal cloud of butterflies and step cautiously onto a sandy riverbank. At first, the group appears tense, moving in formation with weapons drawn. “Look at the way they move. Look at the way they point. Look at him with his bow,” Rosolie said, recalling the moment. “I’m looking in every direction … going, ‘Which way is the arrow coming from?’”But as the moments passed, the energy shifted: “As they come closer, they start laying down their … See, he’s laying down his bow and arrow. They understand. No, no more,” Rosolie said. The tension gave way to curiosity, and even laughter. “These are warriors … it really looked like they’re ready for violence. And now they’re all standing relaxed and smiling.”The encounter, which Rosolie captured from a safe distance, was conducted under strict no-contact protocols to prevent disease transmission.Strange Details Spark Online DebateWhile many applauded the video as a strong reminder of humanity’s diversity, some viewers focused on unexpected details that raised questions about just how isolated the Mashco Piro truly are.One commenter pointed out what appeared to be a modern rope tied around one man’s head, writing: “They're so 'uncontacted' they all wear multiple colored ropes from industrial civilizations."Another questioned, “How would that rope around his waist have blue in it if they don’t have outside contact?"Though conservationists have warned that the Mashco Piro’s territory overlaps with illegal logging routes, where brief exchanges of tools or materials may occur, experts still classify them as an uncontacted or voluntarily isolated people due to their lack of sustained interaction with modern society.Rosolie spoke about his experience with the tribe in a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman. Credit: Anadolu / GettyResearchers estimate that nearly 200 uncontacted groups still exist around the world, most of them in the Amazon basin across Peru and Brazil. These tribes are protected under national laws, but enforcement remains a challenge in the vast and often lawless rainforest.History shows that even minor contact can have catastrophic consequences. Diseases like influenza and measles, harmless to most people today, can wipe out entire uncontacted populations within weeks.Recent encounters have increased as deforestation, mining, and drug trafficking push deeper into Indigenous lands. Organisations such as Survival International and Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency FUNAI continue to advocate for a strict no-contact policy and stronger legal protection of Indigenous territories.Featured image credit: Anadolu / Getty

Recent headlines have been inundated by the devastating fires tearing through the Amazon rainforest.

While the wildfires were, in part, the result of global warming, they were also influenced by the actions of the government, which has authorized deforestation and the contamination of water sources with pesticides. The latter of which poses a particular risk to the tribes, who rely on natural rivers as their primary water sources.

However, Christian Poirier, a program director for conservation non-profit group Amazon Watch, revealed that cattle ranchers and farmers regularly set fires to rainforest land in order to clear it for grazing and agriculture. And according to Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), roughly 99% of the Amazon's fires are started by people, "either on purpose or by accident".

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Now, warring native tribes have put aside their differences to unite against the Brazilian government and the alleged threat it poses to what has been described as the "Earth's lungs".

Per Socioambiental, representatives from 14 indigenous groups in the Xingu basin met in the Kubenkokre village of the Terra Indigena Menkragnoti to discuss the issue. Despite being a protected part of the Amazon, 69,000 hectares of this area have been destroyed between January and June this year, the BBC reported.

One of the leaders present, Mudjire Kayapó, said to the BBC: "Today we have only one enemy, which is the Brazilian government, the president of Brazil, and the invasions of non-indigenous people.

"We have internal fights, but to fight this government, we join."

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A manifesto released by the group stated: "We are extremely concerned about what is currently happening in Brazil. The Government says that we forest peoples want to live like all Brazilians and that we no longer need our land.

"But this is a lie! The Government wants to open our territories for the economic exploitation of farmers, prospectors, miners, loggers, hydroelectric dams, highways and railroads."

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The tribes believe it is their responsibility to help protect the rainforest, which is not only their home but a pivotal part of the world's ecosystem.

They wrote: "We are responsible for protecting the Xingu forest, which benefits the entire region and the residents of large cities, contributing to the essential climate balance for the country and the world.

"We want recognition and respect for our ways of life and also participate in decisions about the future of Brazil. We demand to be heard, especially about what affects us, as guaranteed by ILO Convention 169, which is law in Brazil.

We will never stop being the people of Xingu, we will never leave our lands, we want to leave them to our children and grandchildren. Xingu is one."

With boats, planes, drones, and the gift of curiosity, human beings have stretched to many corners of the globe, and have even made the first tentative steps into outer space. From Mauritius all the way to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, we've managed to explore so much in such a relatively short time, and it's safe to say that when it comes to land mass, there are few places that are still left undiscovered. Having evolved over thousands of years and having brought those modern ideas to every society we come across, it's a jarring experience to witness a culture entirely exempt from Westernisation. As the Korowai Tribe Papua Indonesia show, however, such an idea isn't entirely farfetched. They were discovered in the 70s (with the first encounter recorded in March 1974) by archaeologists and missionaries, not even aware of a world outside their own. Now, photos of the almost untouched tribe have emerged, and it's rather astonishing to see. Living in treehouses and consisting of around 3,000 people, the Korowai believed that if they changed their ways, their society would be destroyed by an earthquake from their vengeful god. Their society is so well-located in the dense forests of Indonesia, they can even lose track of other members of society, and census officials conducting a 2010 survey had to walk for two weeks in order to track them down. They were even visited in 2006 by a team of Australian journalists. Paul Raffaele became the first man to cross the pacification line separating the Korowai from the rest of society. He wanted to understand some of the customs that the concealed Indonesian tribe adopted, and he spoke about why the Korowai were cannibals, eating some of their own dead in a manner unprecedented in our society. "For the Korowai, if someone falls out of a tree house or is killed in battle then the reason for their death is pretty obvious. But they don't understand microbes and germs (which the rain forests are rife with) so when somebody dies mysteriously to them (of a disease), they believe it is due to a khakhua, a witch man who comes from the netherworld. A khakhua possesses the body of a man (it can never be a woman) and begins to magically eat their insides, according to logic of the Melanesian imperative you must pay back in kind. They must eat the khakhua as it ate the person who died. It is part of their revenge based justice system." In the modern society of electronics, roads and skyscrapers, it's sometimes hard to see beyond our modern way of life, and have a look at something simpler. Nestled away in the Indonesian forest, the Korowai tribe are almost completely untouched by our Western customs, and it gives all of us an interesting look into how we might be without the lure of technology.