Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré (born 4 June 1990) is a French woman, who spent her childhood in Namibia among wild animals and tribespeople. Tippi was born in Namibia, where her parents, Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, worked as freelance wildlife photographers.
“I speak to them with my mind, or with my heart and soul. And I see that they answer me.” Tippi Degré
Tippi wandered barefoot, making friends with all sorts of wild animals like leopards, mongoose, baboons, elephants, and snakes.
During her stay in Namibia, she befriended wild animals, including a 28-year old elephant Abu, a leopard nicknamed J&B, crocodiles, lion cubs, giraffes, a Northern Greater Galago, a Banded Mongoose, an Ostrich, meerkats, a baby zebra, a cheetah, a Caracal, a snake, an African Grey Parrot, giant bullfrogs and chameleons. She also befriended the Bushmen and the Himba tribespeople of the Kalahari, who taught her how to survive on roots and berries, and to speak their language.
The now-23-year-old studied cinema at college in ParisIn Paris (France), Tippi attended a local state school for the first two years, but was then homeschooled because she was found to have little in common with the other children in Paris.
As a teen, Tippi returned to southern Africa to make six nature documentaries with the Discovery Channel. The now-23-year-old studied cinema at college in Paris.
She is now studying cinema at la Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris. A documentary on her experiences, Le Monde Selon Tippi was released in 1997.
Documentary on Tippi’s young life in Africa, but unfortunately it’s only in French with no subtitles.
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