This report is a case study of the refugees from Burundi and their settlement in Tranzania. It is confined to a period in which refugees in Africa settled on vancant land, either spontaneously among the local populations in the receiving countries or in designated areas where plots were allocated to the refugees to furnish them with a living. Since then, different ways of dealing with refugees have been applied in Africa as well as on other continents - such as maintaining them in camps for years supported by external aid. The study reveals that refugee situations can be rooted deeply in history. It shows that settlements for refugees, however hampered by poor physical qualities, can provide a safe shelter and means livelihood by which to subsist without external aid.