Guido Camia can show you how to light fires using just a flintstone, survive on a diet of insects and build a forest shelter. 

The 37-year-old, who originally trained to be a patisserie chef, now makes a living offering "Neanderthal" survival courses in the Italian Alps. 

On one of his weekend trips, you can watch him climb rocks and fish from streams barefoot, dressed in animal skins, carrying a spear and looking like something out of The Flintstones.

But Camia's outdoor survival courses also come with an official stamp of approval. 

"For the past five years, my courses have been supervised by Italy's International Survival Federation (FISSS)," he told AFP. 

Camia says he also gives courses in more traditional attire, but his "passion for the paleolithic" gave him the idea of a Neanderthal sidekick. 

Neanderthals - who lived from around 400,000 to 40,000 years ago - were "very intelligent," Camia says. 

"They discovered fire. They were able to adapt to all weather."