The Huaorani Tribe
The Huaorani are an indigenous group that’s lived deep in the Amazon for generations, mostly cut off from the outside world.
Often called “Ecuador’s Last Savages,” they’re known for being fierce warriors—and even now, many of them are still fighting to stay isolated.
From poison-tipped spears to mind-bending hallucinogens, here’s how half the tribe has managed to stay uncontacted—and why they’re determined to keep it that way.
Who are they?
The Huaorani people—who are also known as Waorani, Waodani, and Auca—are an indigenous tribe from Ecuador who traditionally lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the heart of the Amazon.
kate fisher, Wikimedia Commons
What are they known for?
They are known for their violence, against both their own people and outsiders. Auca translates to “savages”—making them known as the savages of the Amazon.
Takiwasi, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
How big is their tribe?
No one knows the exact size of the Huaorani tribe, but estimates put their population at around 4,000.
The twist? That number is split.
-MattHewitt-, Wikimedia Commons
How is the tribe divided?
Currently the tribe is divided into two factions: those who have contact and integrate with the outside world and those who remain unseen in the jungle.
Most prefer to remain in the jungle, however forced colonization is a serious threat in recent decades.
What language do they speak?
The Huaorani speak a language that is only known to them. It is referred to as the “Huaorani Language”. It is not known to be related to any other language in the world.
Recent studies have given this language a formal name of: Huao Terero.
Agencia Press South, Getty Images
Where do they live?
Their ancestral lands are located between the Curaray and Napo rivers, south of El Coca—where they lived for hundreds of years.
Today, their land is threatened by unlawful oil and logging practices.
How do they survive in the forest?
The Huaorani have long preferred life off the grid, deep in the forest. Traditionally, they were nomadic hunter-gatherers, moving around to set up new camps as needed.
These days, most have settled into more permanent villages—but the connection to the forest runs just as deep.
kate fisher, Wikimedia Commons
Who do they share the forest with?
The Huaorani tribe shares the Amazon with many other tribes, included some completely uncontacted tribes that even they have not communicated with.
They also share the forest now with oil and mining companies who have slowly been taking their land.
What are their houses like?
Their huts are typically a triangular shape—about 5 meters high and 10 meters long—and made out of wooden supports and a roof made of woven palm leaves.
How do they store things?
They keep their belongings—like hunting tools, baskets, clothing, and cookware—suspended high up on thick jungle ropes stretched between wooden poles.
kate fisher, Wikimedia Commons
Where do they sleep?
The floor of the hut is simple ground cover, usually dirt and mud.
So, the Huaorani people sleep in hammocks woven by the tribal women.
Where do they eat?
The tribe members typically eat meals together, in groups, around a fire under a different hut.
What do they eat?
The Huaorani don't consume dairy products, and thus meat is their primary source of protein. They also cultivate a few crops, and gather fruits and vegetation from the forest.
What do they use from the forest?
Most of their food comes straight from the forest—gathered from wild plants growing all around them.
One plant, in particular, hides a salty substance just beneath its bark, which they use to add both flavor and nutrition to their meals.
What do they drink?
Aside from gathering water from nearby streams, they also collect water from large vines by cutting them open and sipping the water out like a giant straw.
MusikAnimal, Wikimedia Commons
How do they farm?
While the Huaorani prefer foraging and hunting, they do grow some crops such as manioc. Though they primarily eat meat, or plants growing among the jungle.
What do they do before hunting?
Before a big hunt, the Shaman—the tribe’s spiritual guide and healer—spends the entire day in prayer, calling for protection and a successful catch.
How do they hunt?
They primarily use a tool called a “flecha”, which is essentially a blowgun.
The flecha are about 3-4 meters long. The arrows are dipped in poison which paralyzes the muscles of the animal and stops it from breathing.
What do they make their tools from?
They fleche is made from bamboo, and the darts are made from wood and sharpened using piranha teeth.
Piranha are a valuable resource for many tribes in the area—especially their teeth.
What animals do they hunt?
Traditionally, the creatures hunted were limited to monkeys, birds, and wild peccaries.
Neither land-based predators nor birds of prey are hunted.
SabineDeviche, Wikimedia Commons
What were their hunting taboos?
Traditional Huaorani had plenty of hunting and eating taboos. For instance, they avoided eating deer because their eyes look eerily similar to human eyes.
They also believe hunting comes with its own set of ethical responsibilities.
What were the consequences of hunting?
The Huaorani believe they have to end the animals to live, but they believe unalive animal spirits live on and must be placated or else do harm in angry retribution.
How do they make up for hunting?
To balance life within the forest, the Shaman performed another hunting ritual while preparing the poison for the blow darts.
Why is the poison ritual important?
Using these darts for hunting is seen more as “retrieving” than taking a life—kind of like harvesting fruit from the trees, in their eyes.
Do they make anything else?
The Huaorani people are very skilled crafters. They use a red juice from fruit as paint, and they make necklaces using seeds, wild boar teeth, and parrot feathers.
Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, Wikimedia Commons
What do they wear?
In early years, most of the Huaorani people did not wear any clothing at all.
Later, traditional Huaorani clothing called “Kome” was worn, which consisted of a string around the waist that men used to tie their foreskins.
Agencia Press South, Getty Images
What do they wear in present day?
Currently, the Huaorani wear bits of modern clothing, or cloth wrapped around them. Many families were given clothing by missionaries who tried to make contact in the earlier years.
The younger generations who have gone outside the forest have been given clothing through other various outsiders, and through trade.
How do they style their hair?
The typical Huaorani hairstyle features long hair in the back with short bangs that stop just behind the ears.
Do they wear jewelry?
Elders have pierced ears, with the earlobes hanging down like looped rings. These large pierced earlobes are a Huaorani trademark.
Do they still pierce themselves today?
Younger generations have stopped piercing, because it is painful—even brave warriors complained about the pain they had to go through in their childhood having their ears pierced like that.
How do they provide medical care?
The Huaorani rely on the forest for everything—even medicine. For instance, one tree’s bark produces a white syrup they use to settle upset stomachs.
They also tap into different saps and natural materials to ease aches, pains, and all kinds of illnesses.
What is their family structure like?
Family units consist of a man and his wife or wives, their unmarried sons, their married daughters and sons-in-law, and their grandchildren.
Do they live together?
All of them live together in a longhouse, which is separated by several kilometers from another longhouse in which close relatives lived.
What is marriage like?
Marriage is always endogamous—meaning they married only within their own tribe—and typically between cousins.
Marriages are arranged by the parents when the children are still young.
kate fisher, Wikimedia Commons
What are their gender roles like?
Men and women have different jobs when it comes to hunting and preparing food, but when it comes to making decisions, they share equal say.
Do children go to school?
Traditionally, Huaorani children attend school for six years, learning the ways of the tribe and the jungle, like how to make blowguns and spears.
Many children today remain self-sufficient hunter-gatherers.
At what age do the children become independent?
The Huaorani children become independent of their parents about the same age range that American children would enter second grade.
This is when they have finished their schooling, and start hunting and gathering their own food.
Do they keep track of age?
Now-a-days, some of the younger generations do, but traditionally they did not keep track of their age. They knew how long they’ve been on Earth based on jungle growth around them.
What are their beliefs?
The Huaorani share a deep spiritual connection with the rainforest and practice Shamanism. Their rituals often involve natural hallucinogens to connect with the spirit world.
Terpsichore, Wikimedia Commons
What do their animistic rituals include?
It is believed that the Huaorani Shamans have a special relationship with jaguars, and with the help of powerful hallucinogens found in the rainforest, are able to turn into a jaguar and roam the forest, talking to other animals.
What was the significance of the rainforest?
They believed in a symbolic relationship between their environment and themselves. The forest would always provide enough that they didn't have to grow food or keep animals.
They also have an intriguing belief about death.
What do they believe happens after death?
The Huaorani believe that when someone dies, the soul starts a journey towards heaven.
During this journey, they will meet a large anaconda obstructing the way. Only brave souls can jump the snake and reach heaven.
Those who fail will return to Earth as a termite and live a miserable existence.
When was outsider contact first made?
The first time outsiders tried to make contact was back in the late 1940s, when an oil company began drilling on Huaorani land.
The tribe didn’t take kindly to the intrusion—they met the outsiders with immediate hostility, forcing them to back off.
Salvatore Eugenio Pappalardo, Massimo De Marchi, Francesco Ferrarese, Wikimedia Commons
Who made second contact?
The second attempt at contact was in the mid-1950s when Christian linguist missionaries who were interested in the tribal conflict the Huaorani was experiencing with other tribes.
Were they successful?
This attempt was not successful either—but not long later, a group of missionaries made physical contact in what is referred to as “Operation Auca”, which translates to “Operation Savage”.
What was Operation Auca?
In 1956, five missionaries tried reaching out again during what they called Operation Auca. But this time, the Huaorani didn’t hold back—and things took a tragic turn.
Fritz, Samuel (1654-1724). The engraving was made by Juan de Narvaez., Wikimedia Commons
What did Operation Auca do?
The five missionaries started Operation Auca by flying over their settlements and dropping gifts (clothing, pots, knives).
Once they thought they established a rapport, they set up camp close by and started on foot to make official contact.
Mission Aviation Fellowship, Wikimedia Commons
What happened to the missionaries?
All five missionaries were attacked and speared by a group of Huaorani warriors. None of them made it out of the jungle alive.
After the Huaorani warriors ended their lives, they looted what they could carry and burned down their camp.
What happened after?
The attack made headlines around the world, shining a spotlight on the newly “discovered” — and fiercely defended—tribe.
But it wasn’t the only time tensions turned violent.
Who else did they attack?
Since the Huaorani were fierce protectors of their territory, it is no surprise that the missionaries were not the first, or the only, to lose their lives after getting too close.
Did they attack everyone?
The Huaorani warriors ended the lives of many oil company employees, rubber tappers, as well as any other outsider who got too close, regardless of their reason.
Why did they hurt so many people?
Back then, the Huaorani saw all outsiders as cannibalistic predators, so whenever someone new showed up, they didn’t hesitate to respond quickly—and with force.
Did they ever trust anyone?
Yes, in fact this is when official outside contact was peacefully made.
A few short years after the missionary massacre, two female missionaries—one being the sister of a previously slain missionary—went back to Ecuador for another attempt at peaceful contact.
What happened?
The missionaries were successful in making peaceful contact and set up camp close by to stick around for a while learning the culture.
What was the result of their mission?
Upon joining their culture, the missionaries were able to convert many of the Huaoranis to Christianity, and eventually convincing them to move out of the forest and away from the impending oil drill.
Did they all go?
Actually, quite a few left the villages, but a big part of the Huaorani tribe retreated deeper into the forest—and many of them remain uncontacted to this day.
What is life like for the tribal members who left the forest?
The Huaorani people were relocated into poverty-level civilization where most of them struggled to merge into modern society.
Accounts from the relocated tribe members differ greatly.
What do they believe?
Many of the relocated Huaorani people have considered this event as “ethnocide”—the deliberate destruction of their culture.
What do others believe?
Others have considered the relocation a safety relief from an impending genocide at the hands of oil companies.
Where were they relocated to?
Many of the missionized Huaorani moved to frontier towns, particularly Coca. Their lifestyles and cultures were changed drastically, and many did not do well.
Diego Tirira from Quito, Ecuador, Wikimedia Commons
What happened to them?
They were pushed to give up their language and learn Spanish instead. Sadly, many have struggled with substance misuse, and most kids end up dropping out of school early because of the language barrier.
Daniel Cima, Wikimedia Commons
Is anyone doing well?
Some of the Huaorani people have embraced their new life, even working with tour companies they trust.
This gives outsiders access to their traditional way of life—which still threatens the uncontacted tribe members.
What about the tribespeople who stayed behind?
The remaining Huaorani who stayed behind in the forest continue to live off the land in their traditional ways.
There are two main subgroups, both with very little population.
Some have wondered how long their gene pool will last.
