Science is woven with legends; tales of the improbable, which lead to discoveries that change the way we see the world. On my last day in South Africa, I heard the story of one such legend.

It begins with a man who spent 17 years searching for early human fossils in one area of South Africa. He had a niche specialism - the anatomy of the hominin clavicle - and in this area of research, no one matched his expertise. He also had his own field site. At this site, in 17 years of excavations, he had found just two fragments of early hominins. But hominin fossils are rare, and these two fossils were enough to build a career. 

One day, he received funding to survey a wider area beyond his research site, to look for potential further hominin fossil assemblages. The initial aerial surveys of the wider area around his site showed a small miner's path veering off from his well-beaten track through the bush, a path he had never noticed. He followed the track on the ground and found a cave. This is where, he decided, he would begin his search for more hominin fossils. He took his son, then 9 years old, and his dog,  to check out the site.

But his son was more interested in playing with the dog, and as the two of them leapt through the grass surrounding the caves he found himself alone. Then, his son gave a shout. He said he'd found a fossil. His father - perhaps cynically, doubting his son's awareness of what constituted a fossil..? or perhaps not, perhaps he could feel what was coming, perhaps he sensed the certainty in his son's voice, and felt that rush of anticipation of what was to come - walked towards him, and saw that his son held a rock in his hand. And form several feet away, he saw a very, very familiar object embedded in the rock: A hominin clavicle.

Now, 8 years later, excavation upon excavation has revealed a vast quantity of fossil hominids at the same site. These remnants of our past are still being excavated, still being analysed, and still telling us utterly improbable facts that throw into question some of the most basic assumptions about human evolution.

The photo above shows the skull that accompanied the clavicle - the skull, coincidentally, of a young boy aged between 9 and 12. At least 5 other individuals were tim him when he died, including a woman and her 18-month old child. Is this the first hominin family ever discovered? Can we prove that they are related? Anatomically they have a confusing mosaic of features - long, apelike arms, tiny humanlike hands, brains that are similar in size to a chimpanzee (420cc) but more similar in structure to modern humans (asymmetrical, with an enlarged Broca's area and enlarged frontal lobes). Their ankle joints go against all previous understanding of hominin locomotion, combining ape and human features in a way not previously thought possible. They were bipedal, but certainly spent time in the trees. 

Once again I found myself drawn into the world of our ancestors, as read through the fossil record. For details of the fossil, now known as Australopithecus sediba, click here. And, if you are reading this and wondering how such discoveries relate to research in entomophagy, please read this - As with all scientific discoveries, these data are but scratches on the surface :).

I was very lucky to have the opportunity to stay Ukuvuna with John Nzira and his family, who live on a beautiful plot of land overlooking Johannesburg. John and his wife Fungai* were both born and bred in Zimbabwe, where they will eventually return. For now, though, they have Ukuvuna, an organisation that teaches permaculture and organic farming methods to local farmers

They live in a huge thatched house surrounded by vegetable gardens, a nursery with a mixture of trees and herbs, a couple of pens for keeping livestock (currently: goats, geese, turkeys, chickens, and rabbits), and an area of papyrus swamp interspersed with lavender bushes and several underground tanks used for water purification.

(If the last item on that list is of interest - the household's greywater is passed through a series of tanks, each of which is walled in with stones and bricks. The addition of papyrus and other swamp-dwelling plant species aids in the water purification process. Water from the final tank is used to irrigate the vegetable garden through a drip irrigation system. The whole system is entirely self sufficient, and they have no need for mains water as a result.

Rainwater is also collected, purified and reused. The purified rainwater is used for irrigation via a sprinkler system, and the final tank used for rainwater is also home to a breeding population of tilapia fish. So when they want some small fish for dinner, they can go and fetch some from the tank..)

The photos above were all taken on the premises. You'll notice that the ground is covered in a layer of cut grass: This is grass from communal areas in the surrounding municipality, which is routinely cut by the local government and usually destined for landfill. Ukuvuna asked for the grass to be dumped here, and it is used year-round as mulch, for the animal pens, and for making organic compost. One person's waste is another's riches.

*Fungai: 'Yes, like fungi, like mushrooms' - When John said this to me, he reminded me of another story from Dr Sadomba that's worth mentioning: When collecting mushrooms in Zimbabwe, he told us, it is said that it is important to say a prayer to your ancestors before you pick the mushrooms. When Dr Sadomba asked local collectors why the mushrooms are so revered, they answered him with a further question, 'Have you ever seen the seed of a mushroom?' Mushrooms, propagated by the fickle and unpredictable movements of the wind alone (oh, and by termites, on occasion), are a mystery, and as such one must take care not to disturb nature's balance when harvesting them. 

Could this become a new holiday pursuit? Sort of like wine tasting tours? 

Perhaps. Then again perhaps not… Either way i feel very fortunate to be funded to do this for research purposes: Travelling from town to town through the beautiful southern African countryside, searching every marketplace for caterpillar salespersons, and asking them about their wares. Almost without exception I'm greeted with smiles and laughter (I think due to a mixture of surprise and ridicule … in a good way), as people tell me to try before I buy and explain how I should cook them. 

In just three days touring the caterpillar markets of Limpopo on public transport, I've counted at least 31 hours spent in minibuses looking at the ever changing South African landscape passing by (often to some great music - but my favourite remains this reggae cover of a country classic: ). The photo above shows just how changeable it is, with bright sunshine one minute and a sudden thunderstorm the next (sort of like home…)

Here are a couple of examples of the scenes I came across along the way: 

The photo on the left shows a lady in Tzaneen with the brightest smile, her happiness on being asked to be photographed almost complimented by well-meant teasing from the kid in the background... and the photo on the right shows a tall and handsome entrepreneurial seller in Polokwane, flirting with a customer.

And here is a simple but delicious recipe, cooked by Sophie (who works for Koos and Lucia, the couple whom I must thank for giving me a really lovely and welcoming place to come home to after each day of travelling)

'Nhaka' means heritage in the Shona language, and this is the name given to a 300+ hectare plot of land owned by Dr Sadomba, who is a scholar, a sculptor and a skilled storyteller. He fought for the Zimbabwean army immediately after graduating from high school and therefore never studied at undergraduate level, but he now holds a Masters and a PhD on the ecological and cultural effects of farming transitions (particularly the impact of colonial farming techniques on the Zimbabwean landscape), and he is based at the Center for Applied Social Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe. 

In collaboration with fellow sculptors he is in the process of transforming Nhaka, which stretches across a valley that is also home to some ancient San cave paintings, into a Shona sculpture park that will combine traditional art with traditional, organic farming.

The photo on the left shows Dr Sadomba explaining his experiments with organic farming at Nhaka, while the photo on the right is of Godfrey, one of Dr Sadomba's collaborators, and a famous sculptor in his own right. His sculptures are made in the traditional Shona style, but recently he has started to work with granite. Several of his works are on display at the national airport in Harare. He is shown here with his most recent work-in-progress, a sculpture that shows three faces. The top face is a monkey - Godfrey's totem animal. Working at Nhaka, he is able to carve surrounded by the natural landscape that inspires him. 

Over a delicious meal of 'manondo' caterpillars, hot chilli sauce and pan-fried kariba bream,  Dr Sadomba explained to us his approach to analysing proverbs and taboos in order to understand scientific knowledge held in the Shona culture, which has been observed, verified and passed down through successive generations. 

He used the proverb 'rume rimure barikombi churu' (in the Shona language) as an example. He explained that the verb in this sentence, 'kokomba', is mainly used in the context of cooperative hunting, referring to the practice of surrounding the prey in order to catch it.  'Rume' is a 'giant' or 'great person'. 'Churu' is a termite mound. From my understanding of the proverb, I think perhaps an approximate translation might be 'Even a great person cannot defeat a termite mound'.

Dr Sadomba's analysis of this proverb is as follows: Termite mounds are usually associated with rich vegetation, due to the moisture- and micronutrient-enriching behaviour of the termite activity. Thus, if a prey animal such as a rabbit encounters a termite mound while being chased by an expert hunter (our 'great person', or, as Dr Sadomba put it, a 'giant'), it will disappear among the vegetation, defeating the efforts of the hunter. The nature of the termite mound itself defeats the giant. 

The final component of Dr Sadomba's proverb analysis is proof that it is an accurate interpretation: If correct, the inferred scientific knowledge (in this case, the ability of termite to generate nutrient- and moisture-rich soils) should be used in some way, according to local tradition. And, in this case, termite mound soils are used as a natural fertiliser across Shona territory, and known to increase crop yields through enriching soil fertility.

Through analysing the proverbs and taboos that are integral to language and culture, it is possible to access scientific knowledge that can also be put to practical use. I'd like to find out more about what the world's oral archives might have to say about edible insects in different cultures..

(The title of Dr Sadomba's 1995 paper, in which he published this analysis, is: Use of Proverbs and Taboos as Oral Archives of Traditional Knowledge: A Participatory Method for Studying Traditional Environmental Knowledge System)

After a 6hr bus journey and three plane journeys (5.5hrs, 12.5hrs, 1.5hrs), we eventually arrived in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The summertime rains are coming to a close, and as a result, the landscape is green and fertile.

I was able to take these photos thanks to a Zimbabwean woman sitting next to me on the plane, who offered me her window seat for the landing. She also shared lots of very, very interesting stories with me, about all sorts of things..one of which was her own experience of entomophagy while growing up in Zimbabwe. She mentioned that she remembered collecting Msasa beetles as a child. I duly wrote  her description of the beetles in my notebook - they feed on the Msasa trees and are plentiful in December, often called Christmas beetles. After collecting them, the children would remove the legs and wings and fry the body. - and assumed a quick internet search would give me more information. However, I've found conflicting results, and nothing very concrete. Some sites mention that Christmas beetles are cicadas; a Google images search yields photos of a 'blister beetle' in Zambia..  I wonder which (if either) is correct, and if these insects are still collected by children in parts of Zimbabwe. If you are reading this and know more, please send me an email!