A haunting photograph of a brown hyena wandering through the sand-filled ruins of Kolmanskop, Namibia, has earned South African photographer Wim van den Heever the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025. Announced this week at the Natural History Museum in London, the annual competition drew a record 60,636 entries from 113 countries, reflecting its enduring status as the world’s most prestigious platform for nature photography. Van den Heever’s winning image, titled Ghost Town Visitor, was praised for its powerful narrative and unique composition, depicting one of Africa’s most elusive carnivores reclaiming an abandoned human settlement.
The photograph captures the ghostly calm of Kolmanskop, a once-thriving diamond mining town now swallowed by desert dunes. Through a carefully positioned camera trap, van den Heever immortalized the solitary hyena stepping through a decaying doorway, its presence symbolizing the quiet resilience of nature. The judges called the image “a masterpiece of patience, timing, and storytelling,” highlighting how it speaks to the broader theme of nature’s ability to persist even in the aftermath of human retreat. Intriguingly, the shot was taken using an eleven-year-old Nikon D810 DSLR, proving that vision, not technology, remains the true mark of excellence in photography.
The winners were unveiled in mid-October 2025 at the Natural History Museum, where the exhibition featuring all winning and shortlisted images opens on 17 October 2025 and runs through July 2026 before touring internationally. The global exhibition will bring the year’s most striking wildlife imagery to millions of viewers, continuing the competition’s mission of inspiring awareness and conservation through visual storytelling.
Among other standout honorees, Italy’s Andrea Dominizi (17) claimed the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year title for After the Destruction, a poignant image illustrating the delicate balance between human activity and the natural world. The Impact Award went to Brazilian photographer Fernando Faciole for Orphan of the Road, an emotional portrait of a rescued giant anteater pup bonding with its caretaker after losing its mother to a road accident. Other category winners included breathtaking moments of animal behavior, a caracal ambushing a flamingo mid-flight, a ladyfish outsmarting a little egret, and compelling conservation photo stories exploring the thawing Arctic tundra and scientific interventions to save the northern white rhino. Together, these works tell an urgent and emotional story of life, loss, and resilience on our planet.
For six decades, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has served as both an artistic benchmark and a conservation rallying point. The 2025 edition underscores a powerful shift in narrative, wildlife adapting to human-altered landscapes and nature’s tenacity in the face of change. Van den Heever’s hyena is more than a subject; it is a metaphor for the Earth’s persistence, a reminder that when human footprints fade, life continues to reclaim and redefine the ruins we leave behind. Meanwhile, the success of young photographers like Dominizi signals a new generation using cameras as tools for environmental advocacy, blending creativity with conscience.
The competition’s influence extends beyond the gallery. Each year, WPY’s global tour and extensive media coverage amplify conversations about conservation, climate change, and species protection. The stories behind these images often inspire tangible impact, raising awareness, driving policy discussions, and supporting fieldwork projects focused on endangered wildlife. The 2025 showcase, with its record participation and diversity of voices, is expected to reach new audiences and spark fresh dialogue on how humanity can coexist with nature.
