Wild Honey and Armadillos is what Keeps the World’s Most Endangered Tribe Surviving

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There were some incredible pictures taken which grants us the immense opportunity of looking at the world’s most endangered tribe. Those people are still hunting with bows and arrows as they try to survive in their shrinking forest. The nomadic tribe Awá, as it is called, consists now of just 80 individuals and it remains one of the few tribes still ‘uncontacted’ in the Amazon.

More exactly, they populate a reserve in the Maranhao forest in Brazil. They currently live as they did for centuries, hunting armadillos by using their bows and arrows and gathering babassu nuts and wild honey from the deep and dense primal forest. National Geographic were the ones that displayed the marvelous pictures inside their October 2018 edition.

There’s one snapshot which shows an Awá hunter    as it carries a small deer on his back while holding his weapons, a bow and arrows. A dog is following him close behind. Another picture shows how a group of women accompanied by a baby are bathing in a river which is part of that pristine forest.

The Awás share with their forest a sense of danger, as their very existence is threatened by those that log illegally, drug traffickers or even miners that invade their territory. The forest and its resources of water are crucial to the tribe’s survival but the members are forced to relocate almost on a constant basis due to the dangers which come with outsiders.

Their reserve is protected by law but since when do bandits care about laws? Over 75 percent of the forest is gone and the remaining timber is protected in the Arariboia Indigenous Land. In the area, timber extraction is illegal but this doesn’t scare criminal organizations which are looking to profit without caring one bit about the tribe.

As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.