The Mystery Tribe Was Isolated for 55,000 Years on Tiny Indian Ocean Islands

The Jarawa tribe’s existence is now threatened by a highway which cuts through their ancestral homeland

THESE incredible images give a rare glimpse inside a reclusive tribe which has been largely left alone by the rest of the world for more than 50,000 years.

Only 400 members of the Jarawa tribe remain on the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean, and it’s feared they could be wiped out in the next ten years.

The Jarawa tribe has lives on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean for 55,000 years

The greatest threat to their existence is a highway which cuts straight through their ancestral home, according to charity Survival International.

The road brings tourists to the territory who are accused of treating the Jarawa like “animals in a safari park”.

Meanwhile poachers are believed to enter the rich forests of the reclusive islands and hunt the game the tribe needs to survive.

This is one of the many reasons the Jarawa are hostile towards outsiders. More than 250,000 have signed a petition to keep them safe.

The nomadic tribespeople are master hunters who trap pigs, lizards and turtles with a specially made Jarawa bow.

Being an island-dwelling tribe, food sources in the ocean are vital to their survival and men often catch fish in the shallows.

They are also understood to love fruit and honey, extracting it from hives by using special plant extracts to calm the bees.

They are said to have detailed knowledge of more than 150 plant and 350 animal species on the island.

The self-sufficient Jarawa tribe are master hunters. There are as little as 400 Jarawa tribespeople left on earth

They hunt pig, turtle and fish with bows and arrows. There were once plans to aggressively resettle the Jarawa, which could have destroyed their identity and customs. Fortunately the resettlement plans were abandoned after fierce opposition from activists

The Jarawa also have reputations as as warriors and uncompromising defenders of their territory. They lived through both British colonisation in the 19th century and then Japanese occupation later on.

In 1998, a few Jarawa started to emerge from their forest for the first time without their bows and arrows to visit other settlements.

But in 1990 local authorities revealed a long-term “master plan” to settle them in two villages with an economy based on fishery.

Both Jarawa men and women collect wild honey from lofty trees. The tribe sing songs to express their delight while collecting honey
The Jarawa use a special plant extract to calm the bees while they collect honey from their hives