The paper aims to outline some of the key pieces of legislation in South Africa that impact land and the potential for conservation; review the land restitution process in South Africa; assess how AWF could work with private landowners and communities to conserve strategic land in the Limpopo Heartland and assess Southern African methodologies that can be applied in East Africa. This paper also outlines some cases studies relevant to AWF and its conservation programs, and explores some conservation models that mighte be applied to Kenya and East Africa.