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Tippi Degré

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Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré
Degré at 2014 SUNCINE, oldest International Environmental Film Festival, Barcelona - Spain
Born4 June 1990 (1990-06-04) (age 34)
Windhoek, Namibia

Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré (born 4 June 1990) is a French woman best known for spending her youth in Namibia among wild animals and the local tribes.[1] In 1997, she was the protagonist of Le Monde selon Tippi, filmed in Namibia and Botswana. When she was 10, Degré wrote Tippi: My Book of Africa. In 2002–03, she was the presenter of Around the World with Tippi, six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries.

Biography

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Tippi Degré was born in Windhoek, Namibia,[2] to wildlife photographer-filmmaker parents and was raised in the bush for the first ten years of her life in Southern Africa.[3][4] She was named after the American actress Tippi Hedren as well as friend of her parents Gert Benjamin Jordaan, a guide they knew in Namibia at the time of Tippi's birth. During her childhood in Namibia, Degré befriended animals she lived among including a 28-year old elephant Abu, a leopard nicknamed J&B, lions, giraffes, a banded mongoose, an ostrich, meerkats, a cheetah, a caracal, snakes, a giant bullfrog and chameleons. In addition, she also got along with the local Indigenous peoples and dressed like them.[5]

In 2000, Degré wrote the novel Tippi: My Book of Africa, based on her life in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar[6] where she lived among wild animals and with tribes people, the San Bushmen and the Himbas.[3][4]

In 2001, she was named the Godmother of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) with the French actor, producer and director Jacques Perrin. From 2002 to 2003, Degré presented six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries for the Discovery Channel.[5]

A documentary film on her experiences, Le Monde Selon Tippi ("The World According to Tippi") was released in 1997.[7] Around the World with Tippi was released in 2004, directed by Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis.[8]

Degré studied cinema and audiovisuals in France.[9] Active in conservation and in the documentary film industry, she is a speaker and is currently the director of "El Petit FICMA," the children's section of the FICMA International Environmental Film Festival (Barcelona).[10]

See also

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Bibliography

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  • Degré, Tippi; Robert, Sylvie; Degré, Alain (2005). Tippi: My Book of Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 1-77007-029-X. Retrieved 5 November 2018.

References

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Notes

  1. ^ Haine, Alice (22 December 2002). "Pets and their People: The bush baby; Little Tippi walks and talks with the animals". Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
  2. ^ "The real-life Mowgli who grew up with Africa's wild animals". The Telegraph. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  3. ^ a b Burrow, Lisa (19 May 1996). "Tippi: The Animal Girl of Africa". Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Young girl who's best friends with African wildlife". Wildography & Safaris. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  5. ^ a b Willsher, Kim (27 December 2002). "Forget being famous, says bush baby, I'd just like to be normal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
  6. ^ Degré, Robert & Degré 2005.
  7. ^ says, Renee Becher (12 May 2021). "Tippi Degré: The Real Life Mowgli". MozartCultures. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Around the World with Tippi". ZED. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  9. ^ Savill, Richard (13 November 2008). "The extraordinary childhood of the girl who grew up with African animals". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  10. ^ "Barcelona International Environmental Film Festival (FICMA)". Ficma. Retrieved 5 November 2018.

Further reading

  • Ody, Joëlle; Robert, Sylvie; Degré, Alain (1997). Tippi of Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 1-86872-083-7.
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