In western Brazil, north of the intersection of the Peruvian and Bolivian borders, lives a tribe that has never had contact with the outside world.

It turns out that time travel is possible and you don’t need a time machine to do it. Just travel sideways across the surface of the earth until you get to headwaters of the Andirá River. In so doing you will have traveled back tens of thousands of years. There will be problems in crossing this distortion in time, however. First of all, they’ll most likely shoot arrows at you if they see you coming. And you, with your modern germs and viruses, could kill them with a mere sneeze.

In fact, modern diseases, and land encroachment by loggers and oil drillers, are the main concerns of those advocating on behalf of these people. The above footage, filmed by the BBC, is fascinating. In lieu of time travel, it’s the next best thing.

Here’s a link to Survival International who working to bring attention to the situations faced by tribal peoples.

And here’s a petition you can sign on behalf of tribes in Peru.