When growing up, the typical life for a little girl includes playing with Barbie dolls and hanging out with like-minded children of the same age. She goes to school, has playdates, and goes out for dinner with her family. Maybe she even has a favorite television show that she watches from the comfort of her living room every morning before school.
Not this little girl, though.
French actress Tippi Degré had a very unconventional childhood. Her best friend was a leopard and her “brother” was an elephant.
Degré is the daughter of two nature photographers who were stationed in Namibia. Because of this, the way she grew up was undoubtedly different from the rest.
She was born in 1990 and grew up in the African savannah until the age of 10 with her parents Sylvie Robert and Alain Degré.
She has even been dubbed “real-life’s Mowgli,” which you will understand after seeing the photos.
“It was a magical time, to be able to be out in the wild and free with our child,” Sylvie told The Telegraph.
Imagine having no real contact with other humans (except for your parents) for a huge chunk of your childhood. Well for Tippi, this was a reality. And apparently it was amazing.
“She was a lucky little girl. She lived in the wild until she was ten years old. It was just the three of us along with all the animals. We did not have much contact with other people.”
While yes, in some photos you might see Tippi atop a ginormous elephant, wrapped in a snake, or sitting right beside a real, living leopard, her parents were very cautious about her safety.
“Many farmers in the areas took care of some of the orphaned animals and we were used to having them come close. They become almost tame or very accustomed to people and that’s why Tippi could be so close to them.”
And of course because her parents are professional photographers, they got some amazing shots of Tippi and her beautiful life in the wild.
In each photo, we get a glimpse of Tippi’s fearlessness and beauty! She has such an evident, magical bond with the animals. Her hair is wild and sunkissed and there is pure happiness and peace in her facial expressions.
After 10 years, she finally moved back to Paris with her parents. However that doesn’t mean she’s done with wildlife.
It still holds a very special place in her heart. Tippi is now 27-years-old and she has already gone back to visit 6 times. These visits are specifically to film documentaries for The Discovery Channel too, which is pretty awesome.
Her breathtaking childhood photos were also made into a book entitled Tippi: My Book of Africa.
This is Tippi today, this time not in the wilderness:
Watch the video below!
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