South African photographer Wim van den Heever has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 award with his captivating image titled "Ghost Town Visitor." The photograph shows a brown hyena wandering through the architectural remains of Kolmanskop, an abandoned diamond mining town in Namibia, captured during a foggy night. Van den Heever spent ten years waiting to capture this extraordinary shot, and according to the judges, the patience paid off magnificently.
The winning image presents a haunting scene that immediately strikes viewers with its eerie atmosphere. Jury chairwoman Kathy Moran described the photograph as one that "makes you shiver when you look at it," emphasizing how viewers instinctively understand they are witnessing the hyena in its own domain. The image evokes memories of dark horror films while simultaneously conveying a deeper message about nature reclaiming human-built spaces.
Van den Heever's success came from his extensive knowledge of brown hyena behavior. These rare animals, native to southern Africa, are nocturnal and typically solitary creatures. The photographer knew that brown hyenas regularly pass through Kolmanskop while hunting for seal pups or searching for carrion washed up along the coast. When he discovered hyena tracks in the abandoned town, he strategically positioned his camera trap and began what would become a decade-long wait.
The resulting photograph captures more than just a wildlife moment – it tells a story of nature's resilience and the temporary nature of human settlements. As Moran explained when discussing the winning selection, "It's still a place, it's just not our place anymore." The image powerfully illustrates how a human-built location, now abandoned and decaying, is being reclaimed and repopulated by nature.
The competition attracted remarkable participation, with more than 60,300 submissions from 113 countries according to the Natural History Museum in London, which organizes the annual contest. Awards were distributed across 19 different categories, showcasing the diversity of wildlife photography worldwide.
Italian photographer Andrea Dominizi claimed the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 title for his striking composition contrasting a longhorn beetle with an excavator in Italy's Lepini Mountains. Meanwhile, Brazilian photographer Fernando Faciole won the Impact Award for his touching photograph of a young giant anteater whose mother died in a car accident. The orphaned animal is now being raised by caretakers at a rehabilitation center in Belo Horizonte, with plans for eventual release back into the wild.
An exhibition featuring selected photographs from the competition is currently running at the Natural History Museum in London until July 12, 2026. The traveling exhibition will also visit various cities worldwide, including stops in Germany at the Natural History Museum in Reutlingen from November 14, 2025, to February 1, 2026, and at the Westphalian Horse Museum in Münster from November 29, 2025, to April 6, 2026.
