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Artisanal gold mining is a growing threat to tropical forests, even inside protected areas (Villegas et al., 2012). While this threat is beginning to get acknowledged for the Amazonian rainforests (Asner & Tupayachi, 2017), it is as yet an unrecognized threat for Madagascar’s protected areas. Here, we report on our recent experiences from Ranomafana National Park, in Madagascar, that we believe puts gold mining as a priority threat in the country’s conservation agenda. Over the course of 10 years we have been undertaking research and education projects at Ranomafana National Park (RNP), one of the flagships of conservation success of Madagascar. Despite cycles of local tensions, and conflicts between the Park and the local populations at the Park’s boundary, the forest cover, within the RNP, has remained stable and biodiversity has been protected (Eklund, 2016). While conservation programs in Madagascar have faced many setbacks following the 2009 political turmoil, with surges of illegal exploitation in protected areas, such repercussions were not so apparent in RNP; assessments of protected area effectiveness, across Madagascar, placed RNP as one of the five most successful conservation areas (Eklund, 2016). However, recent satellite images uncovered large forest cover changes taking place in the core of the Park. These dramatic changes appear to be the footprint of a growing, rather unacknowledged threat that is, illegal gold mining. RNP’s director expressed concern about the matter, and explained how the problem is escalating, while detailing incidents requiring the intervention of armed forces. Researchers are also starting …