Kolmanskop's brown hyena a winner
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 is South African Wim van den Heever who captured a haunting scene of a brown hyena in the abandoned diamond town of Kolmanskop.“Ghost Town Visitor” is the winner of the urban wildlife category and earned Wim the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 from more than 60 000 entries from 113 countries.
Wim’s winning photo, with the award compared to the Oscars of photography, will be exhibited from today at the Natural History Museum in London, which hosted the competition.
With sea fog rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean, Wim chose this location for his camera trap after spotting hyena tracks nearby.
Wim, who lives in Pretoria and is a Nikon ambassador, has been visiting Kolmanskop for a decade: “It took me ten years to finally get this single image of a brown hyena, in the most perfect frame imaginable,” said Wim.
The rarest species of hyena in the world, brown hyenas are nocturnal and mostly solitary. They are known to pass through Kolmanskop on their way to hunt Cape fur seal pups or to scavenge for bait washed ashore along the Namib Desert coast.
“This abandoned ghost town that used to be a diamond mine is slowly being taken over by the unforgiving Namib Desert. From day one, I have always dreamed of a photo of an elusive and endangered brown hyena sneaking through the deserted streets at night.
“I only saw a set of hyena footprints along the ruins once,” but Wim knew the area was known for fairly good brown hyena activity.
Brown hyena researcher on the Skull Coast, Emsie Verwey, congratulated Wim on his achievement: “Great exposure in many ways, but especially for the brown hyenas!”
She told Network Media Hub that a photo of a brown hyena had never been seen, admired and shared so many times. “The eerie background only adds more mystery to the wolf in the foreground – an animal that is mostly misunderstood.” – [email protected]