Secret life of the Amazon Indians: Incredible images show near-extinct Awá tribe at work and play

By Oliver Pickup Last updated at 9:10 AM on 15th February 2011

Heads garlanded in feathers and bands of plumes laced around their triceps, Amazon Indians demonstrate their skills with bows and arrows.

The men are some of the last remaining members of the Awá tribe, a nomadic group who live deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle.

But despite desperate attempts to preserve their traditional way of life, the group are fighting a losing battle against the incursions of illegal loggers.

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Tribal gathering: The Awá of Tiracambu community, which borders the Carajás railway. Since being established 25 years ago, the route has brought thousands of illegal loggers to the area

Smiling: But for how long? Smiling: An Awa boy garlanded with flowers (left) while Tatkwarentxia poses with his pet monkey

What to hunt? With the trees being chopped down illegally the Awá main sources of food - fruit and animals - are in increasingly short supply

There are now only between 60 and 100 members of the 360-strong tribe who have been uncontacted.

And if they are influenced by outsiders - ie the loggers and other settlers - there is a high likelihood that they will contract diseases, due to their delicate immune systems, and the Awá will become extinct.

The tribe depend on the forest to survive, but, as they are under threat, they are increasingly having to conceal themselves in hidden pockets of woodland.

Some Awá have stopped hunting altogether as they feel threatened by the illegal loggers working nearby.

Sharp shooters; Awá men demonstrate their skills with bows and arrows

An Awá man Pire'i Ma'a told British charity Survival International: 'The loggers are destroying all the land. This is Indian land. I am angry, very angry with the loggers... extremely angry.

'There is no game for me to hunt, and my children are hungry.'

Newly released figures show that the Awá suffered more deforestation than any other indigenous territory in the Amazon in 2009.

The research, undertaken by Brazil's Indian Affairs Department FUNAI, suggests that 31 per cent of the forest in the Awá territory has been illegally cut down.

Campaigners have urged the country's government to honour a number of promises to help them.

But there has been a growing influx of loggers and little has been done to remove them.

Forest home: young Awa in their forest home. The child at the front wears a simple tribal necklace

Survival: Of the 360-strong tribe between only 60 and 100 have not yet been contacted

Researchers from Survival International believe that the authorites are aware of their identites.

The influx of loggers and settlers was a by-product of the Great Carajás Programme, the development of one of the biggest iron ore fields in the world.

A railway was built around 25 years ago to link the vast mine to the outside world, putting huge pressure on the Awá and their forest.

Animals, fruit, berries and other foodstuff are no longer easily available to indigenous people.

The Awá lives in three of the five indigenous areas which suffered most deforestation in 2009 – the latest year for which statistics are available.