The Akuntsu tribe lives in a small section of the rain forest of Rondonia, Brazil. They live in two straw houses called malocas as one community.
The Akuntsu have faced many problems in the past, including massive genocides. The eldest male, Konibu, recalls back to a mass killing in 1985 when an entire maloca was bulldozed and all people that fled were shot. They were all then buried to try and hide what happened. Konibu spoke of the family members that were killed in the massacre. This killing significantly reduced the Akuntsu population.
There are currently only 5 surviving members of this tribe. The elderly lady with red hair pictured above, Ururu, died about a year after the picture was taken. She was the oldest member of the tribe. Ururu survived the genocide of her family and the encroachment of cattle farmers that drove her tribe deeper into the forest. The new tribe elder is Ururu's brother Konibu, and is pictured above all the way to the right.
Tragically, the tribe's youngest member was killed by a falling tree in a storm a few years back. Now, unless the tribe decides to marry with neighboring tribes, which is not probable, their traditions will surely be eliminated from the Earth. Fortunately, there is a small chance of hope that the Akuntsu's traditions will live beyond them. Linguists are constantly working with the Akuntsu people to try and preserve their language and hope to eventually tell their story to the modern world.