Traveller arrested for trying to gift coke to world's most isolated tribe

Express Tribune

03-04-2025

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world. Picture: Alamy
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An American man has been arrested after illegally entering India's North Sentinel Island, home to one of the world's most isolated and uncontacted tribes, and leaving behind a soft drink can and a coconut.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, reportedly crossed the 40 kilometres stretch of ocean to reach the forbidden island using an inflatable motorised boat and GPS navigation.
Indian authorities said the visit, carried out on March 29, violated laws protecting the pre-Neolithic Sentinelese tribe and put both the tribe and the tourist at risk.
The island, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar territory, has been off limits to outsiders since 1996. Indian Navy patrols regularly enforce a five-nautical-mile exclusion zone.
Police said Polyakov arrived in Port Blair on 26 March and began planning his expedition meticulously. On the morning of 29 March, he sailed from Kurma Dera beach, reached the northeastern shore of North Sentinel Island, and attempted to attract attention by blowing a whistle.
After an hour with no response, he briefly stepped ashore, left the items as offerings, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before leaving.
He returned to the mainland later that evening, where fishermen alerted the authorities. Police seized his boat and camera and confirmed that he remains in custody.
Investigators say Polyakov has a history of unauthorised contact with protected tribes. He allegedly visited Baratang Island earlier this year and illegally filmed members of the Jarawa tribe.
'We are questioning him and hotel staff to learn more about his movements and motives,' a police spokesperson said. A case has been filed under laws protecting aboriginal communities, and India's foreign ministry has informed the US embassy.
Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International, criticised the incident. 'This person's actions not only endangered his own life but could have devastated the tribe,' she said, citing the tribe's lack of immunity to common diseases.
It remains unclear whether the offerings left by Polyakov were retrieved or removed.
The Sentinelese are believed to number around 150 and maintain a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, resisting all outside contact. Their hostility to outsiders has been widely documented.
American evangelical missionary John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese tribe, In November 2018, on North Sentinel Island after attempting to make contact and preach Christianity, despite the island being prohibited to outsiders.