James Glasgow

Director of Operations & Tourism Development

I was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended Edinburgh University – where I studied business and accountancy – and subsequently trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. I left Scotland when I was 25, newly married to my wife Catriona, to live and work in Porto, Portugal, for one of the large international accountancy firms. I worked for this firm for nine years, moving with them from Portugal to Papua New Guinea (Lae) and back to Portugal (Lisbon) during that time. Since then I held various positions in different companies in both Lisbon and Porto before joining the Gorongosa Restoration Project in May 2011. We have two children – Gemma, studying at Edinburgh University, and Alasdair, in his final year of the IB diploma in an international school outside Lisbon.

I learned about Gorongosa when I visited the Park in 2009 with my family and stayed at Explore Gorongosa. I thought it was a wonderful place and a great project and returned in 2010 with Alasdair to climb Mount Gorongosa. I kept in touch with Explore Gorongosa who introduced me to Greg Carr who gave me the opportunity to get involved.

I am Director of Operations and Tourism Development at Gorongosa National Park and my responsibilities include infrastructure projects, road building and maintenance, finance and accounting, donor relationships, day-to-day operations (procurement, stores, workshop, vehicles) and working with actual and potential tourism operators to develop successful tourism operations in the Park.

The Park’s incredibly varied eco-systems, the employees, the return of wildlife, the variety of work, the opportunity to meet interesting visitors (scientists, film makers, journalists, donors, tourism operators) all make this a great place to work. But much more than these is the privilege of just being part of an amazing project to conserve this magnificent Park.