Abstract: Current and past settlement strategies in Central North Namibia are explored with historical aerial photographs, maps of indigenous land units (ILUs), GIS analysis, field observations and interviews on indigenous knowledge to improve understanding of livelihood strategies, described as an agro-sylvi-pastoral system. The objective is to assess the role of ILUs, indigenous fruit trees and termites in human settlement. Keywords: indigenous knowledge, settlement, resource management, GIS, indigenous fruit trees.