Ten years ago I spent some time in a game reserve on the edge of South Africa's Kruger National Park. One morning at dawn we were out walking with our guide, Frankie, when we came across the carcass of a zebra. It had been killed by lions during the night and dragged under a thicket of thorn trees. A wake of vultures, who spend their nights on the cliffs of the Drakensberg some fifty miles away, had already arrived. The question arose as to how they had found their prey.
As Frankie began to explain we were interrupted by the noisy arrival of a landrover driven by the game ranger, an arrogant young white Rhodesian freshly graduated with a degree in zoology and the empathy of a water snake. As is the wont of such types, he hijacked the conversation.
Simple. Vultures have telescopic sight - they can identify a three-foot-high object at four miles. But the zebra was hidden under a tree? Well, they also have an incredible sense of smell. (Actually they don't, I discovered later - the New World vultures of North America do, but not the Old World vultures of Africa.)
We had to wait until later in the day for Frankie's explanation. Vultures dream their prey. How did he know? He had lived in the area all his life, as had his parents and grandparents, and their parents. They had always known this - it was part of the knowledge of the land, passed from one generation to another. Could he prove it? Why, he protested. If I could come up with a better explanation he would accept it. Otherwise he would continue to respect the wisdom and experience of his elders.
I have held on to this anecdote as a metaphor for dealing with complex issues and finally have a hook to hang it on.
My name is Bill Anderson, a South African currently living in London. I was a conscript in the South African Army in its first invasion of Angola in 1975. I deserted and joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, serving as an intelligence analyst for fifteen years.
I am the director of African Development Information Services and am involved personally in ongoing research projects covering foreign policy towards Africa, PMCs and a study of MK between 1985 and 1990.
You can contact me at bill.a _at_ afdevinfo.org
