Brandberg

Visiting

Following your guide up the Tsisab riverbed means picking a way over boulders and smooth granite, with pauses while the guide explains the trees and the geology. The path ends at Maack Shelter, an overhang where you view the painted panel from a small platform behind two metal bars.

Despite the name, the central white figure is a man, probably a shaman, painted among other people and oryx; look for the oryx with human legs. Late in the afternoon the ridge above puts the panel in full shade, and its colours show best.

You must leave bottles and bags behind before you reach the panel, so drink on the way up. Ask at the office to add the other painted shelters of the lower gorge, one of them with a fine pair of giraffe.