This before and after picture of Burning Man is astonishing

BURNING MAN is famous as the most debaucherous festival on Earth. But this photo captures a very different view of the Black Rock Desert.

STEP right up folks, the world’s weirdest festival is here.

An estimated 70,000 revellers have descended on the Black Rock Desert in Nevada this week for nine days of the mayhem and debauchery that is the Burning Man festival.

Each year, this barren, lonely area transforms into a “temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance”.

And while the festival makes headlines for its immersive art-installations, wacky outfits, nudity and promiscuity, perhaps the most alluring aspect of Burning Man is its culture of “everything goes”.

An estimated 70,000 revellers have descended upon the Black Rock Desert this week for Burning Man 2017. Picture: BLM Nevada

On the festival’s website, it describes Burning Man as the “place to find out who you are, then take it a step further”. It is a festival where all walks of life come together — the young, the old, celebrities, high-flying CEOs and even families. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from.

In the past, entrepreneur and inventor Elon Musk, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and supermodel Heidi Klum have attended.

And this year’s theme “Radical Ritual” pays homage to that. It celebrates the abandonment of inherited, rigid beliefs and celebrates acceptance and fluidity.

“This year’s theme is an attempt to reinvent ritual in our post postmodern world. For this purpose, we will disregard assertions of belief and concentrate instead on the immediate experience of play. Beliefs contain, define, and limit meaning. They can reduce truth to a rational commodity,” the website reads.

The festival is known for its wacky art installations and outfits. Picture: BLM Nevada

Burning Man isn’t for the narrow-minded or the faint-hearted and photos emerging from this year’s festival — which started on Sunday 27 August — show it is living up to expectations.

Burning Man claims it is a place for people to find out who they are, then take it a step further. Picture: BLM Nevada

People from all walks of life attend the art and music festival each year. Picture: BLM Nevada

But perhaps the most mesmerising photo of Burning Man is this before-and-after comparison.

After nine days of hedonistic decadence, it is like it never existed at all. That’s because Burning Man has a strict ““leave no trace” rule. Everything set up at the start of the week must come down and be taken away.

To see the incredible transformation, click and slide the blue button on the image below.

Burning Man: Before and after