Breathtaking Pictures Of A Girl Who Was Born And Raised In Africa For 10 Years

Heart-warming pictures of the real life Mowgli, a girl who spent the first ten years of her life growing up in the African bush, have been released for the first time.

Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degri, living with her French parents, wildlife photographers Sylvie Robert and Alain Degri, travelled extensively through Africa on a unique and incredible trip.

The adventure started where Tippi was born in Namibia, and ended in her travelling through countries like Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

'Her everyday life was making sure monkeys did not steal her bottle,' said Sylvie.

'Or she would call me over and point to an elephant eating from a palm tree and say 'mummy, be quiet, we're going to frighten him.'

'She had so much freedom.'

'It was like having the biggest playground. We lived in a tent, completely in the wild, but she always woke up with the sun shining and her parents around her. She was very lucky.'

And the incredible photos - from sitting on the back of an ostrich, lying peacefully with a young caracal, or dancing playfully with an elephant - show an unusual bond and tranquility between man and beast.

'She was so at ease with animals. She would talk to them with her eyes and her heart,' said Sylvie.

Using her innocence and imagination, the young 'Mowgli' befriended one of the giants of the animal kingdom, Abu the African elephant.

'She had no fear,' said Sylvie.

Now aged 23 and studying her third year in a degree in cinema, Tippi is facing a different jungle ... the concrete one.

But the memories of her time in Africa - recorded in a series of interviews and written up into the book - will forever live on through its pages.

'She gave her heart and thoughts away in her book,' said Sylvie.

'It is like Mowgli's story, but for Tippi it's true.'