This Kalahari experience pushes you far beyond the usual safari comfort zone

Though officially no longer permitted to hunt, these Ju/'hoansi men - part of the hunter-gatherer San people - easily track the scorpion burrowing beneath a rock. Holding its tail to avoid a sting, one of them allows the creature to pincer his fingertips. He places it on his forehead, his shoulder and - the party trick - between his lips. Such encounters are second nature: he's been handling scorpions since childhood.

"It's our toy," says Xoma Xuukao, who leads walks at Camp Kalahari in Makgadikgadi Pans. "And because we used to be hunters, our parents used scorpions to build that braveness at the early stage, to build that confidence, and to build that character." Now it's my turn to be brave, he says. "Hold your hand flat - it won't bite because there's nothing to grab." I unclasp my hand and feel the scorpion's tarsal claws tickling my palm. In a scintillating dialect of pops and clicks, the Ju/'hoansi clamour their approval.