Captivating footage has emerged of the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe murdered by farmers over two decades ago.
Known as ‘the indigenous man in the hole’, the tribesman has been captured on video by Government officials in the Brazilian state of Rondonia.
He is seen half naked attempting to fell a tree and is thought to have his own papaya and corn plantations.
Experts first discovered him in the jungle in 1996 and his face was filmed for the first time in 1998.
They think he has lived alone there for 22 years. Aged in his 50s, he spends most of his time hunting forest pigs, birds and monkeys with a bow and arrow, reports The Guardian.
Captivating footage has emerged of the last known survivor of an Amazonian tribe murdered by farmers over two decades ago
Farmers and land grabbers are believed to have murdered the other five members of his tribe in an attack in 1995.
They killed and expelled indigenous Amazonians throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but he managed to survive, according to indigenous Government agency Funai.
Funai has a strict policy of leaving isolated groups in the region alone. The protected area status means they are rarely seen, but an indigenous reserve was set up for them to live in 2015.
Known as ‘the indigenous man in the hole’, the tribesman has been captured on video by Government officials in the Brazilian state of Rondonia
He is seen half naked attempting to fell a tree and is thought to have his own papaya and corn plantations
Fiona Watson, of research group Survival International, told The Guardian the video clip of the man is ‘extraordinary’.
She said: ‘Funai has a duty to show that he is well and alive. 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.’
Funai, who works to protect the rights of indigenous people and isolated groups, claims there are 113 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, 27 of which they have confirmed sightings of.
The indigenous tribesman lives in the Rondonia state of Brazil in the Amazon rainforest