If you are looking for some inspiration you might want to look for the Brazilian film Xingu. It's an account of the Villas-Bôas brothers and the 1943 expedition to the Xingu in Mato Grosso. It's a good film, worth watching. The Villas-Bôas brothers were highly esteemed by the peoples of the Xingu as protectors of native peoples.
I see someone has rather naughtily uploaded the whole film onto Youtube. There is a subtitled version available on DVD.