Are there places you return to repeatedly?
The Zabalo River is deep in the Amazon rainforest. Ecuadorian Amazon—the world’s first quiet park designated by Quiet Parks International. The park is located in a zone considered to be the lungs and heart of biodiversity. It smells as good as freshly baked donuts. The experience of breathing in fresh oxygen and all the nice volatiles produced by these aromatic plants is enough. But the auditory horizon there, and I’ve measured it, can go up to 20 miles, and operate in the range of the upper-30s decibels or lower-40s decibels—so much quieter than the human voice. You can hear a curassow which, in my opinion, personifies the voice or the wilderness because it captures a sense of solitude that is not all about being alone. The idea is to be completely connected and at ease. When I heard it for the first 10 years, I thought that was a bird. I then locked into some hyper-quick jazz that had many piercing elements because the insects are all of different species but occupying the same bandwidth. They have to divide this resource by using this rhythmic sequence.
How do you experience the Amazon rainforest’s sounds?
There are tours led by the Cofán, the Indigenous people who have never lost their listening abilities to the industralized world—and they offer these very affordable listening tours. Visitors can stay in comfortable huts made of thatch, travel by canoe, and enjoy their food. You’ll be welcomed and kept safe whether you’re an individual or a small group.
Travelers can sometimes feel that they are part of the issue. What can we do differently?
Our only hope to save these quiet places is to actually travel to them—but then go back and let everyone know that you came for the quiet and how valuable it was for you. In a planet with 8 billion inhabitants, all land surfaces and most of the oceans will be used in some way. But it’s vital to remember: [the right kind of] Travel that is quiet will contribute to quiet preservation, which will be beneficial for all. Who could be a more devoted tourist than someone who wants to be silent and is willing to pay for it? It’s a bargain at any price.
What is the One Square Inch of Silence?
The Hoh Valley rainforest is home to the One Square Inch of Silence. World Heritage SiteThe biosphere reserve of the Olympic National ParkIt is what I call the “Yosemite of the listeners”. It’s basically three parks in one. The glacier-capped mountains are accompanied by the beautiful marmot calls, which can be heard in the middle night. You can hear the tones of the valleys and rivers flowing in them from Hurricane Ridge. This is also the largest contiguous tree forest in North America, and the home of the Roosevelt elk. And when you hear the elk at a distance—which is the safest place to hear it bugle—you get to hear its flute-like sound, which is created by the sound waves traveling through the ancient forest. It is very guttural. It is aggressive, and it inspires fear. It’s going to make you want to run away, and that is its intention, but from a distance it’s a really beautiful sound.
