Wilder Ruhrpott

In the organizer's words:

Professional photographer Bernd Wasiolka spent almost 20 years taking pictures in southern Africa. Now the Bochum-born photographer has spent four years focusing on his home region, the Ruhr, capturing the wild side of our region.

Foxes and red deer, kingfishers and swallowtails, grass snakes and tree frogs have returned to forests and meadows, lakes and rivers, allotments and parks. Even rarities such as orchids and gentian, which you would never expect to find here, are blooming again.

There is also a lot going on in the cities of the Ruhr region. For a long time, animals and plants conquered new habitats unnoticed and adapted to the changed conditions in urban nature. The barn owl peers out of the barn of a farmer on the outskirts of the city. Or the kestrels that have been raising their brood in a niche in a building for years. The trained eye will also spot a Stendelwurz, an undemanding orchid species that even grows right by the roadside in the city.

An absolute highlight that makes the Wild Ruhrpott so special is its industrial nature. For more than 150 years, mining and the steel industry shaped life and the landscape in the Ruhr region. After the collapse of the coal and steel industry, huge industrial areas were suddenly left completely deserted. In the course of structural change, man has left some of these areas to nature again. High piles of spoil heaps and huge rusting industrial plants now offer a second-hand habitat with very special living conditions for flora and fauna. These industrial and mining relics with their new inhabitants are symbolic of the green transformation in the Ruhr region and make up the very special charm of the wild Ruhr Valley. A uniqueness that you won't find anywhere else.

Join Bernd on an exciting voyage of discovery and get to know the wild, green side of the Ruhr Valley that even most of the Ruhr's inhabitants have never seen before.

Combined ticket for "Wild Namibia" available.

Price information:

plus system fees