Map began his acclaimed wildlife career in 1976 when he joined the Zimbabwe National Parks Department as a field ranger. His early projects took him to areas like Darwendale where he helped establish a protected area for birds around a newly formed lake, and Chizarira National Park in the Zambezi escarpment where he conducted lengthy foot patrols to ward off poachers and record data on black rhino populations.
In 1979, he moved to South Africa where he became one of the pioneers of the country’s private safari industry at Londolozi Private Game Reserve in Mpumalanga, working for three years as a professional guide. In 1982, he returned to Botswana where he led walking safaris based out of mekoro (dugout canoes) into the remotest parts of the Okavango Delta.
At the time, the Okavango was still relatively unknown, so he spent a great deal of time exploring the area, living on islands while gathering plants for identification. He soon realised that the Okavango Delta was one of the finest and most pristine environments on the continent and embarked on a study of as many facets of this unique system as possible, from the geological formation of the Delta and surrounds, to the movements and localities of bird and mammal populations.

He joined Wilderness Safaris’ environmental department in 1992, working on its sustainability projects. It was at this time that the Government of Botswana started working on a management plan for the Okavango Delta under the auspices of the Ramsar Convention. This process involved extensive stakeholder consultations. Map played a key role in the development of the plan with ecotourism playing a pivotal role as an economic driver for conservation and social upliftment.
It was at this time that through a joint venture, Wilderness Safaris and Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks began reintroducing black and white rhino to northern Botswana. Map’s work in conservation led him to being asked by Botswana’s Minister of Environment and Tourism to chair a committee charged with the management of the Moremi Game Reserve.
2012 and 2016 he was appointed as the National Rhino Coordinator for Botswana where he played a major role in the planning and implementation of a national rhino management strategy as Botswana increases its populations of black and white rhino. He represented his country at the SADC Rhino Group as well as for the African Rhino Specialist Group.
In 2015 he retired from Wilderness Safaris to form the Rhino Conservation Botswana Trust which he ran until 2020 when he resigned to return to his original profession and passion as a professional safari guide.

Map’s is acknowledged as a leading expert on the Okavango Delta, it’s various components and wildlife populations, and has also established himself as spokesman for the protection of this unique wetland of international importance. He is passionate about conservation and the linkages between the tourism economy and the protection of wild landscapes in Africa whilst also exploring the importance of humanities wellbeing and the environment.
He has been married to his wife, Kathy, for thirty five years and they have two adult children Kirsten and William.