Oh yeah, duh. For some reason I was looking at the guard that saved Mufasa and thinking one of them could be Nala's father, but obviously they would be too old.
Pat also pointed out to me that there's actually an episode of Timon and Pumbaa where it's pointed out that Rafiki's stick is magic. This one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT2c6R4f6Bs So this is apparently information that we already knew. Although I never watched Timon and Pumbaa, but I wouldn't call everything that happens in the show true canon lore anyway.