The Awa tribe are one of the most ancient groups of people in the world. They reside in the depths of the Amazon jungle and have never had any contact with the modern world. One of the very few people to interact with them is photographer Domenico Pugliese. He spent weeks photographing them and could not believe how at one the tribe were with nature.
The Awa love the animals that live around them so much that the woman breast feed them and they’re treated as part of the family. The group ‘adopts’ wild animals and care for them as if they were one of their own.
Pugliese first met the Awa in 2009 after a recommendation from a friend who’s an anthropologist. The men embarked on a two day journey down river to find the mysterious tribe. ‘They heard the sound of the speedboat’s engine and they came down to the river bank,’ he recalled. ‘The impact was like being in another world. The sensation could not be explained.’
The tribe didn’t feel threatened by the men and were immediately made to feel welcome. But they could not understand why they were both alone and without a family. ‘They do not understand what a grown man is doing being single, without a family. They look at me and they try to give me advice. They do not know where I am coming from. They do not have a concept of the world.
I cannot explain to them where I’m coming from, I can’t explain the lifestyle to them. For them, it is unbelievable to be a man who does not have a family.’ This sense of family is essential to the Awa’s existence and they include animals in their close knit groups. The little creatures assist with tasks such as cracking nuts and gathering fruit from high trees.
In a report published by Survival International they say the Awa keep a variety of different animals including pigs, squirrels and parakeets. But there favourite animals are monkeys as they are the most intelligent and useful creatures in the jungle.
Pugliese said: ‘They feed the squirrels and monkeys like they feed their kids, breast feeding.
‘It highlights how far we have come from where we were. They are so close to nature. In fact, it is not even close – they are part of nature.’
There used to be tens of thousands of Awa tribes spread throughout the Amazon. But the colonies were gradually wiped out when Portuguese settlers landed 500 years ago. A war between the two groups broke out which resulted in a genocide where the natives were almost entirely wiped out. Only a few Awa tribes remained and these were the ones who became expert hunters and were able to move quickly throughout the forest to avoid detection. Now only 300 sites remain and the ancient tribe are at risk of dying out.
The new threat to the group are illegal loggers who are tearing down huge swathes of the forest.
In 1982, the World Bank and EU gave Brazil a loan of around £600million to protect the lands of its indigenous people but this has done nothing to stop the groups gradual decline. The deforestation causes fires that killed 450 tribespeople between 2003 and 2010.
Tatuxa’a, an Awa spokesman, said: ‘Today I went to the forest and I was surrounded by smoke and dust. There is fire everywhere and it is very close to our communities.
‘We need the government to help us. We alone cannot put out the fires, as there are many. The forest is rich with fruit and game… and it is all being destroyed! Our stream is drying up too. Where will we hunt? Where will we collect honey? I am very sad and worried today.’
Culled From Viralthread
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