In today's complex web of socio-economic, political and environmental changes, natural sciences' approaches may offer insufficient understanding of the dynamics underlying socioecological systems. Local knowledge is an important key to understanding pastoralist strategies of resource management. It is particularly interesting to investigate how local knowledge is produced and used in a highly unpredictable system, characterized by non-linear dynamics. Pastoralism is the dominant form of land use and economy in the arid north-western parts of Namibia. The sustainable management of natural resources is therefore important to guarantee future livelihoods in this region. Keywords: Local knowledge, natural resource management, range ecology, cognitive anthropology, savanna, Namibia.