In this land of rippling red dunes and golden grasses crowned by vast skies, listen and you’ll hear something rare: silence. The 730-sq.-mile NamibRand Nature Reserve, which unfolds across Southern Namibia, was recently named Africa’s first Wilderness Quiet Park by Quiet Parks International. The nonprofit organization puts its formidable mission—to save silence—in stark terms: quiet places are going extinct, and there is an immediate need to identify and protect these endangered locations. NamibRand Nature Reserve has long protected its landscape, as well as its skyscape, becoming Africa’s first Dark Sky Reserve in 2012; now it’s being recognized for doing the same for its soundscape via its well-established conservation efforts and strict adherence to low-impact travel. NamibRand limits guest accommodations to one bed per 3.9 square miles, and monitors operators’ sound levels, infrastructure development, and water use. This immense stretch of Namib Desert is, first and foremost, the domain of the creatures big and small that have long roamed its plains—oryx gazelles and springboks, giraffes and zebras, leopards and aardwolves. The subliminal power of silence even guides the latest tours through the reserve. A new Quiet Safari from storied luxury tour operator Micato Safaris invites visitors to pedal through the dunes on e-bike excursions, rise over the desert on quiet hot-air balloon rides, and greet the morning sun with silent yoga and meditation. Perhaps most soul-stirring is the merging of the dark skies with the utter quiet of night. Gaze at the stars in a state-of-the-art observatory, and then drift off to sleep under a retractable skylight in your villa, constellations sparkling high above. Quiet, at last.