She's the daughter her Namibian farmer's mom never had and the sister to twins Ruben and Tertius on the farm Simmenau Namibia, and now Cindy the baboon and her furry siblings are international stars.
Visitors to the Simmenau guest house often feel as if they are living in a Disney movie.
Ruben Lambrechts, 26, laughs when asked about the menagerie of rescued orphan animals on the farm.
“Our oldest animal member of the family is Cindy the 30-year-old baboon. She is my older sister and the daughter my mom never had,” Lambrechts told TimesLIVE Premium.
The Lambrechts family's animal children became famous worldwide by accident.
“After school I worked in Windhoek for a year, but I missed the farm too much and went back home. While I was still in Windhoek I started sharing videos of the animals because I missed them. Suddenly the videos just went wild.”
The most viral one was a video of warthog Betsie playing with Jerry, one of two meerkats on the farm — the other one is Minki named after Minki van der Westhuizen.
“I shared the video on social media with the Lion King song as background. People instantly just thought, 'Timon and Pumbaa, yay!' Today that video has 170-million views and 7-million likes.”
It all started by accident.
Thirty years ago Ruben's mom, Barista, drove past a neighbouring farm and saw the farmer's son holding an orphaned baby baboon at the farm gate.
“The baby's mother had been shot and the farmer said his son couldn't keep the baby so my mom took her in and came home to the farm with her oldest child,” Lambrecht laughed.
Cindy's first decade and a half was challenging.
“She was very naughty and had a bad case of kleptomania. Nothing that wasn't nailed down was safe.”
He remembers two favourite incidents.
“One evening we were all in the house relaxing. Suddenly Cindy came running past on her two hind legs like a human. We could see she was carrying something and my dad shouted her name. She had a fright and dropped what she was carrying. The 'something' turned out to be a full bottle of wine which shattered.
“Another time we saw her running out of the house and we could immediately see she had been naughty. She climbed on a fence and just sat on the fence post. We looked through the binoculars and her face was full of red. Alarmed that she had injured herself we rushed closer only to find out the red was from my mom's lipstick that Cindy had stolen and eaten,” Lambrechts laughed.
But Cindy is not the only furry member of the Lambrechts family.
“We also have Jerry and Minki the meerkats, the warthogs, Bennie, Betsie and Kallie, and a porcupine named Penny who arrived three months ago.”
The Lambrechts’ love of animals is in Ruben's genes.
“I got it from my mom Barista. She loves animals, and from a very early age I was fascinated by them.”
Now the naughty children are the warthogs.
“They love going into the house. The other day I forgot the door to my room was open. When I came back I found Bennie and Betsie snugly sleeping in my bed.”
Afrikaans channel kykNET recently broadcast a two-part miniseries about Ruben and his friends.
“It was great fun and people can still see it on DStv Catchup. But our animals have been on TV many times in other countries. It has been great for business with the guest house. People come from all over the world just so they can meet Cindy and her brothers and sisters,” Lambrechts said.
Lambrechts has spent most of his 26 years on the farm.
“When my twin brother and I were still in school we stayed in the residence in Windhoek during the weeks and went back on weekends to the farm that my grandfather bought more than 60 years ago.”
“We really didn't like being in town. We were farm boys in our hearts. My mom was under orders to do all her shopping before she picked us up every Friday, so we could go directly to the farm,” Lambrechts said.
But if mom Barista had to choose between her twin sons and her baboon daughter, who would be allowed to stay on the farm?
“I don't even have to think about it. Cindy would be chosen every time.”
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