Meet Amos Wekesa

Amos Wekesa is a Ugandan tourism entrepreneur and founder of Great Lakes Safaris and Great Lakes Collection. He grew up in Lwakhakha, a village on Uganda’s border with Kenya. At ten he was offered a place at a Salvation Army school in Tororo. After studying tourism, he worked his way from sweeping tour offices and running errands to guiding international visitors on mobile camping safaris.

In 2001, he founded Great Lakes Safaris in Kampala. He built the company around locally guided, tailor-made trips and went on to develop a collection of lodges in East Africa. In 2021, Amos and Amy Wekesa founded the Great Lakes Foundation, which works with communities near wildlife areas and supports routes into hospitality through practical training.

Amos also helped launch the Rwenzori Marathon in Kasese in 2022, using the race to bring visitors and business to western Uganda. He has received a Sustainable Eco-Tourism Award for his contribution to wildlife conservation in Uganda.

Find Amos’s work through Great Lakes Safaris, Great Lakes Collection, Great Lakes Foundation and the Rwenzori Marathon.

Photo supplied by Amos Wekesa.