The Namib Desert Research Station at the time of its foundation (1963). It commands the two main landscapes of the desert, namely the Sand Sea to the south and the gravel plains to the north. These landscapes are sharply separated by the intrusion of the deeply embedded, dry river-bed of the Kuiseb, the underground water of which supports a dense riverine forest on its alluvial silt banks. Keywords: Namibia, Namib Desert, Gobabeb, Kuiseb River, desert ecology, desert flora, desert fauna detritivores, psammophilous tenebrionids.