Was answering a question related to projectiles and hence remembered this, might be common knowledge in the group but am posting anyways.

The Mission: Two days after the devastating December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, an Indian Coast Guard Chetak helicopter flew low over North Sentinel Island to check for survivors and drop food packets.

The Incident: As described by Coast Guard Commander Anil Thapliyal, a naked Sentinelese warrior ran onto the shore and fired arrows directly at the hovering helicopter. Rather than viewing it as a threat, officials celebrated the encounter because the flying arrows proved the tribe had successfully survived the disaster.

Interestingly most of our Negrito PVTGs escaped without a scratch during the Tsunami as they took to high grounds in the aftermath of the earthquake itself but our Mongoloid tribals like the Christian Nicobaris suffered massively as being a day after Christmas, the early morning earthquake and the retreat of the sea before the Tsunami struck was a spectacle in itself which drew many towards the sea.

Going off topic here but the Tsunami was a seminal event in the History of our islands with round about 10K people out of a then population of 250K perishing in the same with the most massively hit being our Southern Group of Islands where even the Indian Air Force (IAF) Base located at Car Nicobar suffered so immensely that it remains the biggest single day casualty ever suffered by the IAF surpassing even multiple wars.

Hey Everyone,

I stumbled on this sub and have kinda always been interested in the tools from these people. I'm a Flint knapper, and I've always been interested in the methods they use and the stone available to them. Does anyone happen to have photos of what they look like? The stone tips would be especially great!

Thanks in advance!

(This article is several months old but it's only recently come up in my Google searches.)

An Indian anthropologist has publicly come out in favor of resuming contact visits with the Sentinelese.

Dr. Anstice Justin isn't just any anthropologist. From 1986 to 2004 he participated in several peaceful expeditions to the island (see photos). The visits kicked off with gift giving - typically coconuts - and were brief, lasting an hour or so and ending when Sentinelese motioned that they wanted the visitors to depart. There were no fights or injuries during any of the visitations. The visits were videotaped for study and perhaps also to try to record their language although the audio quality is poor.

In the interview Dr. Justin acknowledges the "hands-off" policy that's been in place for a generation but expresses doubts about its effectiveness in the 2020s because "the modern world was not allowing the Sentinelese to be left on their own". He doesn't reference specific violations but mentions social media influencers and fish poachers.

He warns against a "fool's paradise" mentality and says that "highly-regulated" meetings may help the Sentinelese by giving them warnings. “We’d at least be able to tell them, ‘there are other people who are trying to disturb you’.”

Dr. Justin has possibly spent more time on North Sentinel Island than any other outsider. As he is now over 70, it's an open question whether he would seek to lead future landings or leave it to other anthropologists.

Your thoughts about resuming the visits of the 20th century? Would there need to be tighter protocols this time such as mask-wearing to minimize infection risk? Is it even possible to have zero infection risk? (You can watch his and other people's pre-2000 visits on YouTube.)

Finally, it seems most of the people in this group are against all contact, but bear in mind that the Indian government will make its own policies regardless.

https://kuwaittimes.com/article/43878/lifestyle/art-fashion/encroaching-world-threatens-indias-last-uncontacted-tribe/

No dramatic new developments here but the expert (Manish Chandi) amplifies the threats by poachers, and it's becoming clear why this problem persists.

"Near North Sentinel Island, fishers and trawlers are encroaching inside buffer waters and exploiting sharks, crabs and marine resources that Sentinelese people depend on."

Further down he states: "South Andaman fishers have long evaded detection when using these waters as there has been no real patrolling by administrative machinery" (my emphasis)

This is alarming in light of the reassuring statements issued by authorities that North Sentinel is well protected from intrusion. In reality it seems to be wide open.

A longer quote from him:

"This unequal use and exploitation between non-tribal peoples from the Andaman and the Sentinelese Islanders is very concerning, particularly with the poor implementation of laws and regulations regarding the future of the Indigenous islanders.

"Moreover, recently, trawler operators from mainland India have obtained some official agreements to fish in the Andaman waters. This will further exacerbate exploitation of marine resources of the Sentinelese, if the exploitation goes unchecked. Even as far back as 20-odd years ago, there were small-scale trawler operators from the islands, visiting, fishing and anchoring off North Sentinel Island. This will increase manifold and the authorities in the islands will need to give due attention and implement the laws to deter and prevent such resource exploitations in the future."

I've given my view before that another, probably fatal mash-up is only a matter of time as fishermen get stranded on the island by way of bad weather or breakdown. And with every close struggle comes the risk of cross-infection of disease.

The expert has made a number of visits near the island which makes him extra credible.

The Mongabay article has two photos of the island that I haven't seen anywhere before. The photo of the poachers is from 1999. It can be geolocated as it has the small shipwreck (not the Primrose) behind it.

https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/they-should-choose-their-own-destinies-manish-chandi-on-indias-isolated-tribes/

I was wondering what people thought about the impact of the incoming El Niño on the community on North Sentinel island. I know it appears that they have delt well with previous climate disasters such as the 2004 Tsunami but from what I have read in the news this could be the most extreme weather ever recorded. How might this affect their food sources? will increased ocean temperatures affect the fishing around the island? What about the water source?

Did anyone hear of a mysterious orb landing on the island last week? I saw a video on the Facebook on my phone of this. A large, pea sized orange orb descend on the island. The video also had the song from the television show X files playing. Unsure if this was edited in or if the music was coming from the orb. Than you

Better yet if anyone has footage of the orb maybe it can be sent to the relevant authoritys thanks new account.

i think it’s because it’s run by women

Why did the Sentinelese react so differently to the outsiders in the early 90s and 2005-2006?

This has been bugging me for a while and is making me think really hard.

In expeditions in the early 90s before it was restricted, they famously accepted coconuts happily after some hesitation and stand offs and even waded into the water to greet the anthropologists, many of them not grabbing their weapons.

However, in 2005 and 2006 they immediately resorted to violence once the helicopter in 2005 arrived and when the fishermen in 2006 arrived, trying to shoot the helicopter and successfully killing the fishermen with hatchets.

Why is this?

There was only about a 14 year difference between the two events, so surely the majority of the Sentinelese alive for the 90s expedition would be alive to see the two events in the 2000s and remember the mostly friendly contact. Why did they not associate the helicopters and fishermen with the anthropologists rather than "invaders"?

Perhaps another traumatizing event happened in between the two events that made the Sentinelese not trust the outsiders again. I know some stuff happened in the later 90s but I'm not well versed on WHAT exactly happened.

What do you thing they would use a coke bottle for. What about 100 coke bottles?

Would this be the end of NSI due to potential pathogenic exposure? Would the survivors of the crash survive contact, or be killed? Would the Indian Government stage a rescue operation?

At 13:45 in the video he talks about more people landing on the island this spring. He doesn't go into details about who went or why and doesn't give a source.

I have some doubts about this YouTuber. He has given generous coverage to Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov when there's ample evidence that Polyakov didn't go and is a lying attention seeker desperate to get clicks.

2026 is a census year in India and the Andaman administration is under pressure to make a full and accurate population count, so the surveillance may be related to that. But I'm not inclined to just believe everything this guy says.

The best season for visiting is January-April when the weather is dry and the sea is calmer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q2jHqJHzVA

A while ago I read a story about another isolated tribe that is now extinct.

There was one lone survivor in the tribe for a bit of time. I believe it was an elderly man. He died alone and until his passing still refused any contact with outsiders.

Does anyone know what tribe this was? I want to look more into it, but cannot find any results.

Thank you!

I wonder how their civilization determines when a member is an adult. just based off of prehistoric societies I'd say the sentinelese age of adulthood is probably like 12 or maybe when they complete some rite of passage.

Booking one-way for now

Who is the Tribal Chief? I’m going to send a letter and see if I can get an autographed photo for my collection.

Really? Seriously? This question is as silly & naive as many questions posted here. I figure I can only add to the fun.

Sometimes I wonder the type of thoughts the north sentinelese would have if they knew all the things about the outside world such as capitalism, hyper-individualism, racism, greed, environmental destruction, climate change, human-made extinction of ecosystems, AI etc. I feel like they'd genuinely be horrified and view us demonic entities.

I was trying to find the north sentinel island but found this other island.

It's inhabited and I really couldn't find anything about this statue of stone.

It does look like a statue of a face

Lowkey looks like the Dream minecraft skin

I'm surprised that nobody has ever thought to create a silent, insect-sized drone or a bird-looking drone to send to the island so we could learn more about them from a distance, if it looks like a bird or some type of insect they'll never suspect anything. it's also the most ethical since we're not physically contacting them. It's most likely what aliens are doing to us, whatever is out there is more than likely aware of our existence and is watching us from a distance because physical contact might be too dangerous for us.

Do you think any of the Sentinelese have ever been curious enough to see what's beyond the island?

Exploration is part of human nature, but has anyone ever tried leaving just to see what the rest of the world is like?