Tanzania’s endowment of diverse biodiversity, wildlife resources and prime natural attraction sites put the country at the center of many debates about conservation, human welfare and development. As approaches for wildlife protection have evolved over time, so has the need for redressing the gap between nature and people through different kinds of partnerships. Based on are view of the existing literature, we examine the context in which partnerships have emerged in the wildlife sector in Tanzania, the processes that support acquisition and maintenance of legitimacy, as well as the sustainability outcomes of these partnerships. Specifically, the paper examines the historical trajectory of these partnerships and the influence that different actors have historically maintained hence determining how the public and private sector engagements evolved over time. We draw insights from the Selous game reserve with specific attention to the role of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) as a converging point for many actors. The paper suggests that partnerships for wildlife protection have increased in number and scope. However, the assessment of their impacts has mainly focused on how much land has been secured for the protection of wildlife. Livelihood impacts of these partnerships have been largely assessed against the background of unequal terms of local community engagement with private investors, recentralization, the rise of local elites, corruption and the limitations that they place on local land use. We suggest that documenting how partnerships are formed, their different configurations and impacts should be an important step towards the analysis of the relations of power among different actors and with local communities, as well as a nuanced understanding of their ecological and livelihood outcomes.