A farmer from Namibia has been living with a female baboon for 26 years, who was saved by his parents (6 photos + 1 video)

The monkey became his sister, and the meerkat became his brother!





Ruben Lambrecht owns a family-run tourism company and runs a small farm on the outskirts of the African city of Windhoek. He raises cattle on his land, and his home has become a haven for many orphaned wild animals, including meerkats, mongooses, warthogs, porcupines and other representatives of the local fauna. Unlike zoos, Ruben does not keep animals in cages. They roam freely around the property and interact with their 26-year-old patron.



Among the farm's oldest residents is a 30-year-old female baboon named Cindy. Ruben's parents rescued the monkey before he was born, and she has stayed with the Lambrechts ever since. According to the farmer, he is very attached to Cindy and affectionately calls her "sister." They have developed a close and trusting relationship, which Ruben talks about a lot on social media.





The monkey considers the man part of his family and takes care of him in a familial way - for example, looking for ticks and fleas in his hair, which is considered a sign of love and care among all primates. "He does my hair," Lambrecht laughs at the numerous videos he shares with his subscribers.



At home, Ruben is almost never alone. Cindy follows him around, meerkat Jerry curls up next to him for a nap, and porcupine Penny rustles her spines somewhere nearby. All of Ruben's four-legged friends are orphans. Most often, they are found by local residents and given to the care of a farmer. Cindy, the star of the most popular videos, was left without a mother in infancy. Ruben's parents fed her like a human child with milk from a bottle. Now, three decades later, the almost blind monkey considers herself a full-fledged mistress of the farm - a kind of self-proclaimed matriarch.



In addition to Ruben, Cindy is also especially attached to Penny the porcupine. When this orphan was brought to the farm as a baby, the baboon took on the role of a mother and took care of her: she carried her in her arms, groomed her fur, fed her. Now Penny is too heavy and prickly, but Cindy still tries to grab her in her arms from time to time. But Penny has become close to Rigby, one of the few dogs on the farm. Rigby and Penny grew up together, and the porcupine, according to the farmer, has some dog-like habits.



Ruben's content is not only charming photos and videos with the numerous inhabitants of the house, but also educational materials. The man often reminds his subscribers that his pets are not pets, but rescued orphans. He would be happy to release them into the wild, but they will not survive there.