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The thing about tension, is that it's almost always better if the danger is left to the imagination. If you have other encounters lined up, and you want combat focus to remain on those encounters, then you'll have to introduce the cannibals again in ways that leave their strength and intentions something of a mystery.
-Perhaps they could find tracks of the cannibals, dragging something behind them. You could add to the sense of dread and have a child's doll found in the weeds to the side of the tracks...
-There could be a clearing where there are is a blood pool under a tree that looks like something was tied to it to bleed out.
-Ritual totems could be found at different spots on the island, depicting cannibalistic imagery.
-At night, they could see large fires from afar, then on the next night, they could see them closer. The next night, even closer, with the sounds of drums barely audible over the whistling of the trees.
It should be clear that they're not alone, but the actual threat should remain invisible until the time is right.
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Mutilated corpses with varying freshness to indicate how long ago cannibals were there.
A NPC who's badly hurt and can't stop mumbling about the teeth. the teeth.... the teeth.... THE TEEEEEEEETH. Red. So much red teeth. The teeth.
"I need you to roll a dex check..." then when they say the result scribble something down on a note pad, but don't tell them what it was or what the result was. Then, do nothing with it to keep them guessing. Also, workable with a perception check, if they get a natural 20 maybe tell them they hear rustling in the bushes but can't decipher if it's the wind or an animal or person.
Let them find tracks near their camp in the morning. If they don't move camp, let them find even more tracks the next day.
Let them roll an "intuition check", and they feel like they're being watched.
Have something go missing from the camp with no explanation of why, and let them wonder what happened to it.
Maybe their awoken in the night by screaming and chanting and drumming, etc... then let the fatigue and exhaustion conditions kick in when suitable so they feel like their worse for wear.
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I think you kind of answered your own post. Throw in a sprinkle of the above ideas then hit them with an easy encounter of cannibals, making it apparent they don't want any to escape, then have a large number come after them and make them hide.
The drums or whatever you decide as the cannibals signature will be the threat. If they are in combat and a small band of cannibals come upon them it makes the combat harder. If they are in combat and they know a large band are coming it means they have to finish the fight fast or flee.
This will mess with your CR's for encounters however, and your level advancement for the adventure path if it includes too many combats that are otherwise unplanned.
you do have a narrative problem, as the tension you are trying to create is a feeling of powerlessness against a nearby evil.
The problem is you didn't get to write your protagonists, you are stuck with a group of adventurers who, by definition, tend to go balls first at whatever lair of evil they find. It is difficult to make them feel helpless without also making them feel completely railroaded.
Making them 'scurry away from a constant threat' really keeps an adventuring party from feeling like heroes. I don't know this AP but for homebrews that can be something of a taboo for some players.
I would use an NPC ally for dramatic effect. you could nominate one that is more disposable that others (I haven't read this AP) and have him or her kidnapped by the cannibals. Dragged off in the night by a hunting party that pulls the victim away and retreats.
Make the hunting party dangerous enough that the PCs will want to avoid directly attacking it, (maybe 15-20 strong).
If the PC party is too scared to attack, you've added to the feel of "oh my god they are going to eat us all" and all it cost you was the least important NPC. The PCs get to sit and wonder who will be next.
If the party is heroic enough to give chase, have a screening force, a portion of the raid group, detach to fight the PCs (making the encounter split into two encounters, which should keep it manageable) even though the PC would have to commit to attacking overwhelming odds to try to rescue the NPC. This will mitigate the possibility of creating a TPK in an effort to create ambiance.
If the party doesn't attack, but doesn't give up, and instead trails the raid group in a hope to find a means to assault the cannibals and rescue their friend.... You now have the opportunity to reward your players for coming up with creative tactical solutions to the problem of attacking a superior force. Maybe watch the Movie "13th Warrior" for some inspiration, and slap a quick exterior dungeon, or a 'forest -> Village -> Cave' type progressive encounter that allows the party to fight smaller numbers of enemies at a time while facing multiple encounters in a very short amount of time.
In this case, allow chaos to benefit the Player Characters... The enemy natives wont necessarily respond as one organized regiment. If you have a large map, Allow the players to initiate the fight on it... and then arbitrarily decide, every five rounds, 1d6 more mooks arrive to re-enforce.
Yes, the bad guys all amassing into an organized group and advancing as one would make more sense, but that presumes they have leaders that can effectively coordinate them. Sometimes you have to suspend some disbelief in order to not wipe the party.
If the PCs win the field... allow them a moment to fade into the darkness/jungle, rest for a few turns, and exploit another surprise attack opportunity.
Whatever you need to make them feel like heroes, and keep the story believable
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I would take a little time out time with them to draw up the terrain. Then let them design the camp onto the map with all of their traps etc without your oversight. Say that you will clarify rules but you don't want to see their map so that you can play any encounters fairly.
Afterwards ask them for a perimeter map 'so that you can set up any starting positions' but without detail of the middle. Then give random perception checks in the early hours of the morning. The person on watch has spotted a rustling in the undergrowth -it's only a rat but the party are on edge because they are expecting an attack - why else did you go to all the trouble of getting them to prepare a map.
I would take a little time out time with them to draw up the terrain. Then let them design the camp onto the map with all of their traps etc without your oversight. Say that you will clarify rules but you don't want to see their map so that you can play any encounters fairly.
Afterwards ask them for a perimeter map 'so that you can set up any starting positions' but without detail of the middle. Then give random perception checks in the early hours of the morning. The person on watch has spotted a rustling in the undergrowth -it's only a rat but the party are on edge because they are expecting an attack - why else did you go to all the trouble of getting them to prepare a map.
This is great i'd go with this for a couple of nights then have them see signs that someone was scouting out the perimeter and obviously tried to dismantle some of the outer defenses.