In February 2018 Víctor Zorrilla, an elderly Yine man living in
southeastern Peru, was killed by the Mashco Piro while hunting. Zorrilla
had over the decades met with the mashco piro who he considered as kin,
nomolene, various times, but that did not prevent him from
becoming a victim of an emerging encounter between worlds. Through a
personal account of his encounters with the Mashco Piro people in the
1980s, this article raises and explores several focal questions related
to voluntary isolation. How can knowledge concerning the isolated
people’s be acquired in an etically sustainable manner? What are the
implications of the notions used in speaking about isolation, ’contact’
in particular? How can protection of voluntarily isolated people or
those in initial contact be carried out without compromising the safety
of the neighboring peoples?