Restoring protected-area integrity in practice

Gorongosa National Park, in central Mozambique, has undergone one of the most significant restorations in African conservation—a blueprint for protected-area restoration across the country and the continent. In 2015, Conservation Outcomes assessed the park’s law-enforcement operation, developed its strategy and plan, and supported its implementation. Between 2015 and 2023, we assessed the existing ranger force and recruited, selected and trained 304 disciplined, dedicated and effective rangers at Gorongosa and Coutada 12. Every ranger, patrol leader and manager, up to and including the head of law enforcement, came through that programme, building the internal capability required to run the park’s law-enforcement operation.

Gashaka-Gumti is Nigeria's largest national park and one of the largest in West Africa. In 2017 it was assessed as five years from unrecoverable. Conservation Outcomes has worked there since 2020, assessing the serving ranger force, then recruiting, selecting and training successive cohorts of disciplined and effective rangers through basic field ranger training, patrol leader training and other specialised training. Leaders and Nigerian instructors have been developed from within the force, and the park now delivers regular in-service training itself to maintain the standards established. Africa Nature Investors reports that illegal activity has declined sharply, with a corresponding improvement in security across the region.

Table Mountain National Park, spanning the Cape Peninsula, faces a rare combination of coastal, mountain and urban-edge threats — from crimes against visitors to abalone poaching. Conservation Outcomes led and delivered the development and expansion of the park's Sea, Air and Mountain (SEAM) Team, formed to counter these pressures. Working with SANParks in 2024 and 2025, we provided strategic law-enforcement advice, identified leadership potential within the team, and delivered the recruitment, selection and training of new members alongside refresher training for serving personnel. SANParks reports that recorded incidents of crime on the mountain have fallen by 90 per cent since the team was established.

Sanbona is one of South Africa's largest privately owned reserves, covering over 58,000 hectares of the Little Karoo at the foot of the Warmwaterberg Mountains. Conservation Outcomes has worked there since 2016, beginning with an assessment of the reserve's security strategy and the in-service selection of the serving ranger force. We then delivered a community-driven recruitment, selection and basic field ranger training programme, strengthening security ahead of the introduction of endangered species. As the reserve has expanded, we have continued to support it through refresher training, advisory services and further recruitment and training. The reserve has recorded no poaching of endangered species.

Maputo National Park, on Mozambique's southern coast, was proclaimed in 2021 through the merger of the Maputo Special Reserve and the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, uniting more than 1,700 km² of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Working under the World Bank-funded MozBio 2 project, Conservation Outcomes conducted a strategic needs and security assessment, developed the protected-area security plan, and delivered field ranger refresher training alongside marine training. On the marine side, we operationalised the first effective marine patrol unit for the park, including the commissioning of a new coastal patrol vessel. This strengthened the park's protection of one of the most biologically significant marine environments on the East African coast, with rangers equipped for both terrestrial and waterborne operations.

Addo Elephant National Park, in the Eastern Cape, holds a nationally significant population of South-western black rhino and is one of two reserves supported under the World Bank's Wildlife Conservation Bond — a first-of-its-kind, outcome-based instrument for growing black rhino numbers. Between 2023 and 2024, Conservation Outcomes strengthened the park's law-enforcement capacity, delivering recruitment and selection from the surrounding communities followed by the basic field ranger training of new field rangers and gate security personnel. Beyond strengthening protection, the programme created meaningful local employment. The result is a highly motivated, disciplined and effective ranger force — and a clear conservation outcome: the park's black rhino population has continued to grow, with no poaching incidents recorded.