The daughter of French photographers Sylvie Robert and Alan Degre, she spent her first ten years travelling around Africa, and her parents chronicled her experiences.

While most parents would not let their children anywhere near the big cat, Tippi’s was a particularly unusual childhood.

Sitting next to an adult leopard, Tippi Degre looks completely at ease.

Branded the real life Mowgli, after Rudyard Kipling’s hero in The Jungle Book, a book has been re-released giving a glimpse of her extraordinary first decade.

Now an adult, the book, Tippi: My Book of Africa, shows her making friends with an elephant, who she brands her brother.

Check out the amazing pictures below

At the age of just one-and-a-half, Tippi was pictured by her mother drinking her bottle among an elephant herd in Botswana

With Cindy the baboon at the age of six in Namibia, Tipi's childhood was an unusual one in which she travelled extensively around Africa

In Sea Bird Island in South Africa, Tippi has been branded the real life Mowgli after Rudyard Kipling's hero of The Jungle Book

Tippi, aged six, with Abu the 34-year-old elephant in Okavango Swamps, Botswana. She described the huge animal as her 'brother' after striking up a friendship with him
Close to nature: Tippi pictured by her mother with a meerkat climbing on her in Nambia when she was six years old
With a young cheetah in Namibia when she was six, Tippi had an extraordinary childhood which saw her travel extensively in Africa with her parents
Incredible: Her mother snapped this image of Tippi riding on the top of elephant Abu's head in Botswana when she was six
In a penguin colony in Namibia when she was six, the incredible pictures are included in the book Tippi: My Book of Africa
The young girl playing with two meerkats at the age of six in a magical image taken in Namibia 
While most children would be intimidated at the sight of 34-year-old elephant Abu, she appeared totally at ease in Botswana
The daughter of two French photographers, Tippi is pictured on the back of Linda, a tamed ostrich in South Africa
Brave: The young girl, who was six when this picture was taken, is pictured with a rock python at the age of six in Namibia
Tippi is pictured in front of 34-year-old elephant Abu in Botswana at the age of six
Learning experience: The young girl is pictured with Tkui, of the San Bushmen of northern Namibia in one of the images in the book
Tippi being fed water from a root plant by Tkui in the Okavango Swamps in Botswana
At the age of six with two members of the San Bushmen in northern Namibia when she was six years old

Tippi was pictured by her mother, French photographer Sylvie Robert, with the women and children of the San Bushmen of northern Namibia

A book chronicling Tippi's experiences during her first ten years has been released, featuring pictures by her parents 

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