Mapping the Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate

Maps are more than tools for navigation—they are stories about place, purpose, and design. This illustrated course map of the Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate in Arusha, Tanzania is an attempt to bring together GIS accuracy and artistic cartography to communicate both function and identity.
The estate is set within a unique landscape where golf, wildlife, and open savannah coexist. Capturing this balance required moving beyond a purely technical map. Instead, I focused on a hand-drawn, classic golf-course style, commonly seen in traditional course guides, while still grounding the work in spatial data.
The map highlights key golf features such as fairways, greens, tees, bunkers, water hazards, the driving range, and the clubhouse, arranged in a way that is easy to read and visually intuitive. Color choices were kept soft and natural to reflect the surrounding environment, while clear labeling supports orientation for players, planners, and visitors.
From a GIS perspective, this project strengthened skills in spatial interpretation, feature generalization, and layout design. From a storytelling perspective, it reinforced the idea that maps can be both informative and expressive bridging data and design.
Ultimately, this work demonstrates how cartography can support planning, tourism, and communication, while also serving as a creative medium. As spatial professionals, we have the opportunity to design maps that do more than show locations they help people understand places