I mean, there is a whole academic discipline (social anthropology) that has wrestled with the ethical issues raised here. Usually people doing fieldwork will have spent at least a year (and often much longer) exploring this stuff and working through the ethics, IP, imperialism/exploring dichotomy... this guy might have done similar.
There is a bit of an issue presuming that all tribes want to be isolated. The noble savage trope is as old as the hills and pretty problematic in itself. There are tribal people who are adept at making a living from presenting a 'tribal, authentic' front to rich tourists and then switching into Nike when the tourists go home. Fair game to them I say, if they are doing it on their terms and choose to give their 'authentic way of life' up (or modify it) for something with more modern conveniences.
The untouched tribe offers a romantic ideal to outsiders, but life in what we might think of as more traditional cultures can often be pretty tough going. Especially for women or those who for no fault of their own fall foul of taboos or prohibitions (disabled people being one common example).
Going back to this chap, though, the whole thing has the air of someone who is needing to raise money and sell a good story. I don't know the man but that is definitely the subtext of some of the media stories about this.