Un-contactable people are isolated people or lost tribes and communities, who live by choice or circumstances, with no significant contact with the greater civilisation. More than 100 un-contactable tribes exist around the world, in densely forested areas of South America, Central Africa, New Guinea, Andaman Islands (India). Most secluded.
400 Jarawas still live on the main Andaman islands, in India. Jarawa means ‘strangers’.
A nomadic tribe, hunting endemic wild pigs, monitor lizards or other quarry, with bows and arrows. Mollusks, dugongs, crave, fish and turtles are a major part of the Jarawa diet. Besides meat and seafood, Jarawas love to collect fruit, tubers and honey from the forest.
They live completely naked, but love to adorn jewellery made of bones, shells, flowers and palm leaves. Jarawas are quite hostile to outsiders, even kill people who venture into their territory. Both sexes beautifully decorate their face and body with mud and clay.
Unfortunately, all such tribes live in vulnerable and unsustainable ecological conditions. Under severe threat from illegal tourism, exposure to diseases due to low immunity levels and inconsiderate poachers. UNESCO hails the self-determination of Jarawas. It’s planning to help them negotiate with a rapidly changing predatory world, especially ogling tourists, as if they were animals in a wildlife sanctuary.
