Andaman

Going to the island, which is part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, is illegal and all efforts to study the Sentinelese have been made from a distance.

These tribes are of Mongoloid and Negrito origin, and some are believed to have traveled to the Andaman Islands from Africa some 60,000 years ago. They are considered one of the world's last links to prehistoric times.

The five aboriginal tribes that inhabit the lush jungles and beaches of the Andaman and Nicobar islands number less than 1,000 people.

Samir Acharya who heads the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, says endangered tribes like the Onges now number less than 100. He says they should be moved back to their island as quickly as possible to continue life as hunters and food gatherers in their own natural habitat.

Anstice Justin, head of the Andaman unit of the Anthropological Survey of India, recently led a mission to assess the damage on islands where one of the tribes live. He found sand and debris had filled the shallow waters where the Sentinelese people used to pole their canoes to catch fish.