They have a unique cultural and linguistic heritage, distinct and unrelated to any other known tongue, including Quechua, which is commonly spokenin Ecuador
Huaorani people have lived as forest hunters and gatherers in the heart of Ecuadorian Amazon for hundreds of years
Their traditional territory includes the area now known as Yasuni National Park and Biosphere Reserve, in the Republic of Ecuador
The Huaorani are legendary, even among other Indigenous peoples in Ecuador’s Amazon region, for their extensive knowledge about the rainforest and its diverse plant and animal life.
For centuries, Huaorani warriors, renowned and feared for their strength and ferocity, defended their ancestral territory from intrusions by outsiders who sought to exploit the Amazon Rainforest and conquer its inhabitants
The Huaorani communities of Bameno, Boanamo and Wema have organized themselves to defend The Intangible Zone and their culture and way of life
Ever since their tragic encounter with North American missionaries in 1956, the Huaorani have held a special place in journalistic and popular imagination as "Ecuador's last savages
These non-contacted groups, whatever their provenance and trajectory, all live like refugees in their own lands, by choice. They no longer prepare clearings, but plant root crops and maize under the canopy to avoid being spotted by helicopters.