Ecuador, the country of South America, has the world’s first quiet nature park. Located on an area of 1 million acres around the Zabalo River, the nature park awaits its visitors, away from all the sounds of the modern world. There are no transportation vehicles, houses, power lines and factories in the world’s first quiet nature park around the Zabalo River. The park promises a quiet area in a world full of noise, inhabited by the indigenous people of Ecuador, the Cofán people. In an interview with American Way magazine, ecologist Gordon Hempton, one of the founders of Quiet Parks International, who aims to create and protect quiet nature parks in the world, said, “The Zabalo River is a living paradise. “It’s a transformative experience like walking in a huge biological clock where you can hear the workings of nature.” There are very few places where the voices of man-made things do not reach. In fact, these places are rarely found. The beaches in Seychelles are among the places that continue to exist far from the sounds of the modern world. Since almost half of the island has been declared a protection zone, the region can still maintain its silence. The nature park around the Zabalo River is the world’s first quiet nature park by Quiet Parks International, which is trying to spread silence all over the world. Hempton, co-founder of Quiet Park International, defines the Zabalo River as an area among the quiet places in danger. Some tests were done in the process of approving the Zabalo River as a quiet nature park. One of the tests was that there was a few hours of silence in the area. The silence of the Zabalo River made these tests easily passed. Native Cofán people protect the Zabalo River, the world’s first quiet nature park. However, the struggle of the Cofán people in this field is getting weaker every day. The population of Cofán people currently living in the region is about to fall below 2,000. Quiet Parks International says the struggle of the Cofán people to protect the Zabalo River should be supported. Views from the Zabalo River, the world’s first quiet nature park:
