Story:
Tippi Degre, the real life Jungle Book Mowgli who grew up with Africa’s wild animals.
Other Versions
Tippi Degre, the little French Girl who embraced Wildlife and played with Wild Beasts.
Analysis:
The messages talk about Tippi Degre, a little French girl who is claimed to have grown up in jungle with wild animals, just like the Mowgli character in Jungle Book comic. It is a fact.
About Tippi Degre
Alain Degre and Sylvie Robert are the parents of Tippi Degre, who worked as freelance wildlife photographers. Sylvie gave birth to Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degre on 4 June 1990, in Windhoek, the wilds of Namibia, and she was brought up with the animals there. Tippi and her parents used to travel extensively through Africa on unique adventure trips. During their stay in Namibia, Tippi befriended wild animals.
Tippi Degre – The Real-life Mowgli
It was just Tippi and her parents who lived in Namibia, with the wild animals and not too many humans around. As she grew up, Tippi Degre got along well with the surrounding animals and befriended some of the world’s most ferocious animals. The African bushes became her playground and the wild animals became her friends and companions. A wild elephant named Abu became her brother and a leopard named J&B became her best friend. She used to sit for hours with lion cubs and dance with the ostriches.
Tippi also befriended other wild animals like crocodiles, giraffes, a mongoose, meerkats, a baby zebra, a cheetah, a caracal, a snake, an African grey parrot, giant bullfrogs and chameleons. The Bushmen and the Himba tribal people of the Kalahari also became Tippi’s friends, who taught her how to speak their language and survive on roots and berries. In the image section below, you can see some of the amazing pictures of Tippi’s wildlife stay.
In 10 years that Tippi was born and brought up brought up in the wild life, she was hurt only couple of times. Once when a meerkat bit her on the nose, and again in 1994 when a baboon called Cindy attacked Tippi’s hair and pulled out a handful. The documentary video on right shows a glimpse of Tippi’s wildlife stay.
After Wildlife
In 2000, Tippi Degre had to move with her parents to Madagascar and then to France, where she became a celebrity. A book based on her adventures called Tippi of Africa was published and translated in several languages.
Interestingly, When Tippi and her parents returned to Africa in 2006 Cindy, the baboon ran up to Tippi and played with her hair, grooming her. Tippi wrote a book on her wild life experiences called ‘Tippi: My Book of Africa‘, which showcases her unbelievable images with the wild animals, similar to Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
Tippi set up her website tippi.org, and also returned to Africa to make six nature documentaries for the Discovery Channel. At the age of 18, she did her degree in cinema at Paris Sorbonne Sorbonne, and faced a different kind of jungle. The French girl, Tippi calls Africa as her home and also gives out a message that we should do something about saving the animals and the planet before it’s too late.
Hoax or Fact:
Fact.
References:
The real-life Mowgli who grew up with Africa’s wild animals
Meet the real-life Mowgli
Tippi Degre
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