I don’t know about you, but I need daily doses of silence. The kind of quiet that wraps me in a protected cocoon, slows my breath and heartbeat, kneads my muscles into submission, and calms my autonomic nervous system. The kind of quiet I find in abundance on an African safari.
alone in the Masai Mara
Silence is as necessary to the human psyche as water is to our body, yet it is increasingly hard to find in our world of leaf blowers, sirens, TV’s, radios, jets, cars and cell phones.
Sometimes I capture moments of a peaceful African kind of quiet in America.
hiking a foggy Rattlesnake Canyon
Like when I’m hiking in the Santa Barbara front country on foggy days when the damp air mutes sounds of the city below; or in Wyoming when a snowstorm pushes the pause button on human activity. And sometimes I find it early on Sunday mornings when my neighbors are still sleeping.
My favorite 'home' in the African Bush
But none of it compares to the pure spirit healing kind of silence I get in the African Bush.
What about you – how and where do you find silence?
From the time of my first trip to Africa on assignment as a fashion model in 1984, to my recent role as Africa Adventures Specialist for the Jane Goodall Institute, I've traveled to or lived in eleven African countries. Deepening my life long passion to nature and animals happens easily in Africa, but Africa remains 
9 comments
Ditte says:
Sep 14, 2012
Lori,
Met a neat friend of yours, who is here from New York, Allison.
Love your blogs, keep sending them.
Silence is sitting in the hot tub, early in the morning, when the dawn just starts to break. It is also anytime one is watching the animals in Africa, and no one makes a sound.
Lori says:
Sep 14, 2012
Thanks Ditte, sunrise in the hot tub sounds delightful. Nice to hear from you.
Lisa says:
Sep 14, 2012
yes and more yes
Bev says:
Sep 14, 2012
I agree Lori. Silence is a rare commodity these days and well worth seeking for our poor noise-polluted minds and souls. One good thing: the 100 plus decibels of blasting music in most of the women’s shop’s has definitely cut down my clothes shopping. Simon & Garfunkles (sp) “Sounds of Silence” has always been one of my favorites since the 70′s.
Looking forward to more of your blogs.
Lori says:
Sep 14, 2012
Thank you for reminding me about that song (i love the title) and for your comments.
Barbara says:
Sep 14, 2012
Silence is walking along Lake Washington with my dog at 5am. No one around, the lake is calm and the sun is not up yet. I find it so peaceful.
My most memorable and favorite was camping at the base of the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda. I rose early in the morning to fog and listened to a lone villager singing before anyone else was up. It was magical.
It did feel like silence.
Lori says:
Sep 14, 2012
Hi Barbara, Thanks for your input on how you find silence. I love your images and can easily picture both scenarios. I can feel the silence and peace inside of me just from reading your wonderfully descriptive comment. Thanks so much.
Bonnie B says:
Sep 16, 2012
My favorite silence is, like Barbara’s, not real silence but the sound of Lake Michigan waves crashing on the shore. The thing I feel most accutely when returning from our trips to Africa is the loss of the silence of the bush. It starts at the airport with the constant announcements and then we get home to the beeping and buzzing all around us. We need to declare a National “Quiet Hour” so people can remember what they’re missing.
America's Serengeti by AfricaInside.org says:
Apr 14, 2013
[...] the African bush I find the kind of silence only wild places provide, the wide open spaces with no human made obstacles, the feeling you get from knowing you are in [...]