Given how close Rafiki was to Mufasa, you would think young Simba would have met Rafiki a lot sooner. Supposedly, shamanism is an important element in the vitality of the kingdom that Scar's reign maybe suffers from a lack of it.
I have always seen as a contrived plot point that even non-canon comics contradict the film with Simba knowing Rafiki at a young age. It isn't quite as contrived as maybe Hades not discovering Hercules is still alive after eighteen years, but let me hear your thoughts on it.