A state's ability to establish and enforce collective rules is central to its ability to govern. How states can increase their capacity to achieve this in areas where local actors – such as traditional authorities in Africa –are central structures is therefore occupying both researchers and practitioners. I contribute to this growing body of literature by focusing on the de facto interactions between state- and traditional authorities. Based on extensive fieldwork, I study how hybrid governance arrangements with traditional authorities influence the state's capacity to govern through the perceptions and experiences of park- and traditional authorities and local inhabitants in National Park governance in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and Conservation Area. The findings align with previous scholarships, showing that states can increase their capacity by sharing authority with traditional authorities. I show that park authorities actively interact with traditional authorities to increase their capacity to establish and enforce conservation rules. Negotiations and informal practices harmonize rules, mitigate conflicts, and combine formal and customary enforcement systems, thus strengthening the state system. The thesis underlines that to understand the capacity of the modern African state, we need to include the informal governance practices with local actors in our analyses.