Well these were native tribes that have been living in these mountainous jungles for a long time.

For me, I associate the label "locals" with a slightly more "modern" society which has been converted to modernism a certain amount.

In no way did I mean to demean them if that is where you are going with this. :)

But you can certainly call them locals if you wish.

For some reason, it didn’t even occur to me that you meant literal indigenous tribes.

Tbh, I was a little put off by the word ‘natives’ because I thought you were referring to non tribal, present day individuals as natives.

But I think there is definitely a missing word for present day indigenous, tribal people who prefer to adhere to their ways rather than accept modern ways of life. “Natives” sounds demeaning to me. “Locals” has a whiff of modernity. Maybe “indigenes” (which is apparently a real word)?

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Indigenes

Come to New Mexico. There's "natives", "locals" and everyone else.

where I'm from, native means you grew up there, local means you live there, everyone else is just visiting.