As well as having an extensive collection of pandas, the Chongqing Zoo is a large zoo with both generous space and many different species on show. I did find the map not particularly descriptive on where anything was or even what animals they had, so I just walked around and followed the signs around the zoo (which also all had English on them) hoping I’d eventually get back to the pandas! Actually other than the map I saw near the entrance, I didn’t actually see any others – but it was quite relaxing to wander without so much structure or a list of lots of ‘must sees’.

There is a wide range of animals of all sizes and it’s a very vast space – it’s definitely one of the better zoos that I’ve been to in China. In addition to lots of animal habitats, it was also quite a ‘park’ zoo, with lots of open spaces and garden areas. There is a large lake which a lot of people were just relaxing around, and plenty of food and drink options here as well to enjoy a break – except there were pelicans on the lake and I’m terrified of giant pelicans!

I really liked a lot of the habitats here, none of them seemed too small for the species’ they were housing and all the animals seemed to have good on- and off-show spaces that they could make use of. There were a few animals I saw where there was only 1 of them where normally these are animals living in a group – e.g. the giraffe, but perhaps the others were just somewhere else and I happened to only be where 1 was. Despite it being up some very steep steps, I really enjoyed the area near the pandas with the alpacas, wallabies and several deer species. The spaces were huge and there were wooden walkways all around the edge of the yards. There were also typical petting-zoo type animals in another area which I really liked as well (you couldn’t touch the animals though, so not really a petting-zoo). The aquarium area was also interesting, so many different species’ of fish that I’ve never seen before. And can’t forget about the ‘classic’ dinosaur section, I did find this a little funny – while the t-rex looked great among the trees, there were several smaller dinosaurs that were a bit past their best and parts were falling off of them XD But the kids around seemed to enjoy it.

I didn’t get a huge number of photos as it was quite busy at a lot of the animals, but I got a few snapshots of what else can be seen at Chongqing Zoo aside from giant pandas.