Will Travel For Pandas

September 28, 2026September 20, 2026 Kirsten

San Diego Zoo, May 2026

I had a great time over my 2 day visit to San Diego Zoo back in May – it really is a great zoo and I’d highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area already. San Diego Zoo pops up on most ‘top 10 zoos’ lists for the US, having been to several of the zoos that commonly pop up on these lists, I would firmly put San Diego Zoo at the number 1 spot! They have a huge site, so many animals on offer, well thought out themes and spaces, amazing volunteers and staff, and are really highlighting the conservation work they are undertaking. They tick all the boxes of what zoos should be doing, I was really so impressed and was already excited the plan a return trip when I was still there!

September 21, 2026September 13, 2026 Kirsten

P A N D A S @ S A N D I E G O Z O O May 2026

I was so excited to see that the San Diego Zoo were finally getting pandas back! The first long-term panda family left the zoo back in 2019 after an amazing 23-year stay with a successful breeding programme. Finally in June 2024, a brand new pair of pandas made their way from China to San Diego, and made their public debut in August 2024 – this year I made it all the way there to meet them:

September 17, 2026August 30, 2026 Kirsten

Snapshots from Zoo Berlin, April 2026

With a Spring visit to see the Zoo Berlin pandas, of course I made some time to wander the rest of the zoo during panda nap time! I’m very familiar with the zoo now having had so many visits and do have some favourite spots to check out. On this visit I was lucky enough that the new tiger home had opened, this looks fantastic and is a great new addition to the zoo. I even saw one of the tigers in their new home up close, which was exciting, but the video footage was much better than any photos I got. Definitely took more photos of non-panda animals on previous trips, so check out those previous posts tagged at the zoo for more photos and more animals^

September 14, 2026September 6, 2026 Kirsten

A fourth visit to the BERLIN PANDAS in one year! April 2026

Getting in one final visit of my year of having an annual pass for Zoo Berlin! In total, this visit takes me to 8 days at the zoo, so for me the annual pass was completely worth it – including making some savings in the restaurant and gift shop as well. I think I timed the pass well, being able to see the cubs from 9 months old to 1 year 9 months old was a great age range, and I’ve really made the most of having sweet panda twins in Europe before they will depart for China. While a timeframe for this departure hasn’t been announced, it really could be anytime now that the twins are 2. However I am confident I will see them in the future in China! Anyway, on to this specific visit, which was 1.5 days in a very sunny Spring-time Berlin:

September 10, 2026August 30, 2026 Kirsten

Snapshots from Schönbrunn Zoo VIENNA, March 2026

With some panda nap times, I headed around the rest of the zoo – it’s an easy zoo to navigate and overall has a very relaxed vibe to it, plus some very tasty cakes in the cafe! Last time I got lucky and saw the tiny baby elephant and the cheetah triplets and was looking forward to seeing them again, and was hoping to see the new baby Amur leopard who had been born since my last visit – didn’t have any luck on that front though! A definite highlight was watching the sea lion feeding, and I enjoyed it so much on my first day that I also went back on the second day to watch again.