Incredible pictures of forgotten tribe in Ecuadorean rainforest

The Huaorani people still use traditional methods to catch their food, despite having had contact with the outside world for more than 60 years, The Sun reports.

One spectacular image shows a warrior returning from a successful hunt with four dead monkeys hanging around his neck.

Other tribesmen were pictured climbing trees, throwing spears and shooting blowpipes to catch their food.

Life in an Ecuadorean jungle

Two toucans were also killed by the men in the hunt and a peccary pig was seen roasting on an open flame.

British photographer Pete Oxford, 58, from Torquay, Devon, captured the images during a visit to the Amazon in Ecuador.

“The Huaorani Indians are a forest people highly in tune with their environment. Many are now totally acculturated since the 1950s by missionaries,” he said.

“Some still live very traditionally and for this shoot, through my Huaorani friend, a direct relative of those photographed he wanted to depict them as close to their original culture as possible.

“They still largely hunt with blowpipes and spears eating a lot of monkeys and peccaries.”

He said he felt “accepted” by the group during his visit.

“I was accepted and everything that was theirs was mine to share,” he added.

“Unfortunately, I could not reciprocate and stayed in a small tent on which I had to put a small padlock.

“For a Huaorani, my computer cables were excellent tethers to tie up a dead peccary but for me represented being able to work or not.”

WHO ARE THE HUAORANI PEOPLE?

The Huaorani live in the rainforests of eastern Ecuador in South America. They settled in land not far from the Rio Napo, which eventually flows into the Amazon in neighbouring Peru.

Between 1500 and 3000 people are believed to make up the indigenous tribe. They are known by several names, including Waorani or Waodani, also known as the Waos.

The tribe is facing a threat to their culture because of oil exploration within their territory and the Yasuni National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.