There is an urgent need for great ape conservation to be based within a social, political and economic context and to foreground landscape-wide planning; it is therefore necessary to understand the mechanisms of co-existence of great apes and people in human-dominated landscapes at the peripheries of protected areas, and the effects of disturbance on species survival. Applied-conservation research projects can provide this much-needed information, as well as directly contributing to species conservation through deterring hunting, offering capacity-building and raising conservation awareness of local people. We report on evidence for the importance of conservation-applied research, using La Belgique research site in the Dja landscape, southeast Cameroon, as an example. As the field site provides opportunities for student training and theses, we hope to inspire and motivate the next generation of conservation scientists to embrace the demands of great ape conservation in this region. Cameroon is an emerging ape research powerhouse: a growing number of universities are producing a generation of researchers who will have a tremendous impact on future great ape conservation and research. The boots-on-the-ground in-situ conservation research conducted at La Belgique offers a potentially great model for wider application in Cameroon and the Gulf of Guinea; in this way, we seek to expand conservation efforts geographically, attract the attention of scholars and conservationists, and ultimately boost great ape conservation in this important region.