Ocean Lion | Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Griet Van Malderen’s Image

Griet Van Malderen (Belgium) sets the scene as Gamma, a female lion, guards a Cape fur seal carcass.

Protecting a seal carcass, Gamma waits for her family against a tempestuous Skeleton Coast backdrop.

Around 80 lions live in this extreme environment where the Namib Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean, and only six are known to hunt seals.

Griet has seen first-hand how the hunting behaviour of desert lions has changed.

In 2015, a drought wiped out vast numbers of zebras, springboks and ostriches. That’s when these big cats began targeting coastal prey.