Better late than never – in October 2022 I finally got my next trip to Pairi Daiza to see the pandas! This trip was my postponed June 2020 trip so while I’m sad that I didn’t get to see the twins as super playful 1-year olds, at least I was able to get there eventually. I took my mum on this trip and we stayed in the Pairi Daiza Resort, more on that in a future post about the rest of Pairi Daiza, meaning 2 days spent with the 5 Belgian pandas. October was a great time of year to visit, it wasn’t too busy and the pandas enjoyed the cooler weather by spending time outside which was great for getting pictures!
Xing Hui
On my previous two visits to Pairi Daiza I had only managed to catch a brief glimpse of Xing Hui inside and it had been too dark to be able to get good photos. On this trip I still only saw him inside but at least he was at a bit of a better spot in the inside area so that I could get some photos of him. It’s very dark in the indoor viewing and as it’s backed by the window to the outdoor habitat and was rather bright, it made it a bit tricky to get good photos – but I’m still pleased I got something! He spent most of the time eating in the middle of his climbing frame. He’s a very lovely looking panda, there’s something about his facial features which definitely make him stand out. Hopefully next time I visit he might want to go outside.
Tian Bao
This was my first time seeing Tian Bao as an independent panda – I didn’t see him when I visited at the start of 2020, and my previous visit was in June 2017 when he was just 1 year old and still living with Hao Hao. Tian Bao’s enclosure is in a different area of ‘The Middle Kingdom’ section of Pairi Daiza – he is right at the start of the area by the main entrance (perfect for getting to quickly!) while the main ‘panda caves’ are further into the section, closer to the ‘Southern Cape’ and ‘The Land of Origins’. For Tian Bao there is no indoor viewing – he has an indoor space but this isn’t able to be viewed by the public. He has a very spacious wooded outdoor habitat and he made an appearance outside every time I went by over the few days of the trip. There was some open space further in the back but climbing logs and frames in the middle towards the front. We got very lucky on the second day of the trip that we happened to be viewing Tian Bao when his keeper came to give him some treats (carrots and apples) – Tian Bao obviously knew it was snack time as he sat and patiently waited at the front of the viewing window for the keeper to come. The keeper then threw the carrots and apples over to him which he very happily ate! Tian Bao really is a very photogenic panda =D
Hao Hao, Bao Di and Bao Mei
While I did see Hao Hao with the twins when they were just a couple of months old in January 2020, I really had hoped I would see them at the adorable 1 year old stage where they’re small and adorable and quite mobile. The twins were just over 3 years old on this visit, and they’re almost the same size as Hao Hao – it was a little tricky at times to tell them apart from her. But they were still very playful and a joy to watch. They did spend a little time inside, but the majority of the times that I was at their enclosure they were outside. Most of this time was spent eating, and I loved seeing the 3 of them trying to sit in the same spot and sharing bamboo – sometimes even trying to eat the same cane! This spot was unfortunately quite hard to get pictures from as it was quite close to their door to the inside where there isn’t a path, and behind some railings. I got so lucky on the afternoon of my second day when one of the cubs was exploring across the whole outside habitat and even climbed up a tree onto the climbing frame and even almost went down the slide – something I had also hoped to see from Tian Bao back in 2017, one day I will see a panda cub go down a slide!
