Intensification of human sprawl in buffer zones of globally important African wilderness areas is of worldwide concern. The paper identifies two major conflicting (yet potentially reconcilable) pathways of rural sprawl in African wilderness buffer regions, described as the subsistence pathway and the wildlife-tourism pathway. Containment of rural sprawl near important ecological reserves requires addressing both pathways and their underlying conflicts. Reconciliation of subsistence sprawl with wildlife-conservation based tourism may occur through adequate compensation for community subsistence resource losses by the creation of sufficient alternatives to local communities that may reduce the need to rely on subsistence resources. Keywords: human sprawl, protected areas, Africa.