On December 17, 1920, the then South African Union was commissioned to take over the mandate over South West Africa. She obtained a so-called C-mandate, which meant that South West Africa was part of South Africa. Until independence, on March 21, 1990, it was the South Africans who had the say in the country. (At that time, Apartheid was still in place in South Africa.)

The South Africans, who are still not very popular in Namibia today, built dams, airfields, roads and harbors in Namibia during this time; So, everything that could be used militarily in any form. (The South African army was heavily involved in the civil war in Angola and needed these infrastructures to fight the enemy – or what was thought to be at the time!)

Dr. Charles Koch, from the Transvaal Museum in South Africa, had something else built in 1963: Gobabeb, a research station that lies at the intersection of three ecological systems. Here, in today’s Namib-Naukluft-Park, the sand dunes of the Namib Desert, the Kuiseb dry river and the northern gravel fields meet. Thirty researchers, including geologists, archaeologists, ornithologists, botanists and zoologists work in Gobabeb.

PS. For some years now, it has also been possible to spend the night at the Gobabeb research station, go on hikes or take a guided tour of the station.