The Breeding Centre is the first panda yards you come across in Panda Valley and it looks to be perhaps the latest built because it has quite a different design to the other 3 houses here. I saw a total of 6 pandas living here, but there were also off-show areas inside so there may have been another panda or two also here. When you first come up to the area from the front of the park there is immediately one outdoor yard which has almost a circular design with viewing a lot of the way around. Then you head to the left and through a covered walkway viewing 2 indoor areas – one always had curtains drawn around it when I visited, but the second was very large with a climbing structure in the middle and roof windows to keep it bright – I saw pandas in here later in the day on my first visit. You then take the stairs or a lift/elevator up one floor and from there you can view 3 outdoor yards which have multiple viewing options. The first one you come to is the largest, then the middle one is long and thin, then the final one is slightly larger and this one is like a half circle that you can view on the rounded edge – when you walk around this, you then next come to long thin yard again from the other side, and finally again the largest yard from the other side. I really liked the design here with the viewing options depending on where the pandas were within their yards. Whilst this is called the Breeding Centre, I didn’t see any babies or kindergarten-aged pandas here. Maybe I was just here at the wrong time, or maybe they don’t have mums with babies/a nursery-style set up any more, I’m not sure. First I will share about two of the solo pandas living in this area of Panda Valley:
Qi Hang 启航
Qi Hang 启航 is the first panda to come across in this area, as you approach from the base entrance his yard faces outwards. There was a sign up saying that because of the warmer weather you may not see a panda, but that didn’t deter Qi Hang and I saw him outside on both of my visits. The first time, I got there just when he had been let outside after a bamboo re-stock so he came wandering through the trees and straight for his pile of bamboo in a perfect viewing spot. There is plenty of viewing opportunities around this yard, it’s on the edge of the building and is circular, you can view around at least 2/3rds of the perimeter. I really liked that it was quite full of foliage in the yard, he had plenty of spots where he could sit outside but still be hidden from the public for some quiet time. He is still a young panda having been born in 2018 so was 5.5 years old when I saw him. The nice thing about the signage here is that there is quite a bit of info included in 4 languages. So Qi Hang is described as being shy and enjoying sleeping in a quiet place as well as playing outside – super cute^
Yong Yong 勇勇
Yong Yong 勇勇 was in the long thin middle yard and I saw him outside on both visits having a feast of bamboo! He was enjoying the sun ontop of his climbing platform, and wasn’t shy about showing himself off. He’s an older panda, almost 20 years old on my visit, but he didn’t seem it at all – he’s definitely still a handsome panda! On my second visit I saw him up and about in his yard and he was super cute drinking from his water fountain. This is a great yard with a lot of foliage, plenty of spots to sit out but be out of the public eye. His information sign says he has a yellow tinge to his fur, which I’d agree with, and that he enjoys playing in the water which would have been cute to see.
