Tomas Anez Dos Santos was working in a small clearing in the Peruvian Amazon, when he heard footsteps approaching in the forest.

He realised he was surrounded, and froze.

"One was standing, aiming with an arrow," he says. "And somehow he noticed I was here and I started to run."

He had come face to face with the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas - who lives in the small village of Nueva Oceania - had been practically a neighbour to these nomadic people, who shun contact with outsiders. However, until very recently, he had rarely seen them.

The Mashco Piro have chosen to be cut off from the world for more than a century. They hunt with long bows and arrows, relying on the Amazonian rainforest for everything they need.