Before I went to South Africa I did not know that fish could make a noise. The catfish in the lakes behind Fort Hare were very noisy.
The computer centre of the University of Fort Hare was often a stressful place to be. So at lunch time I often went for a walk behind the university. Behind the university there was a farm, originally used for teaching and research purposes, but now largely neglected.
There was also the remains of a secondary school which where Nelson Mandela and other prominent black South Africans had been to school. Now in ruins because probably because it was inconvenient to have educated black leaders.
There was a tree, often filled with showy white egrets, and the dams. To me a dam is a barrier across a river or reservoir, but in South Africa a dam is an artificial lake built to store water. On quiet days the dam at Fort Hare was noisy as you approached. I can no longer describe, or even remember the sound of those catfish, except that it was loud. The sound stopped suddenly as you got close to the water.
I had been visiting for several weeks before I realised it was the fish making the noise. There were dozens of catfish visible, I guess each between one and two foot long. On the surface, their wide mouths open they routinely appeared to be gasping for air.
I don’t think they were asthmatic; it was just that the African sun warmed the water sufficiently to deplete the oxygen. But I wondered if there was some purpose in their ‘singing’. If you sit quietly and wait the noise will start. The fish all start singing at the same time, and then as you start to walk, all stop suddenly. Perhaps it is a more intelligent form of warning than we would use. After all it is a crazy strategy to call ‘Watch out!’; it simply attracts attention to the one who raised the alarm. It might be safer to continually call out ‘All clear’ so the alarm is given when the calling stops.