Tippi Degré


Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré is a French woman best known for spending her youth in Namibia among wild animals and tribes people. In 2002–03, she was the presenter of Around the World with Tippi, six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries.

Biography

Tippi Degré was born in Windhoek, Namibia, on June 4, 1990 to wildlife photographer-filmmaker parents and was raised in the bush for the first ten years of her life in Southern Africa. She was named after the American actress Tippi Hedren. During her childhood in Namibia, Tippi 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 2000, Tippi wrote the novel Tippi - My Book of Africa, based on her life in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar where she lived among wild animals and with tribes people, the San Bushmen and the Himbas.
In 2001, she was the Godmother of the World Wide Fund for Nature with the French actor, producer and director Jacques Perrin, in France. In 2002–03, Tippi presented six wildlife and environmental TV documentaries for the Discovery Channel.
A documentary film on her experiences, Le Monde Selon Tippi was released in 1997. Around the World with Tippi was released in 2004, directed by Jeanne Mascolo de Filippis.
Tippi studied cinema and audiovisuals in France. 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.