It’s my first time visiting the giant pandas in Singapore! Giant pandas arrived in Singapore from the CCRCGP Ya’an Bifengxia Base on the 6th of September 2012, and honestly I had no idea how long ago it was, that’s over 12 years they’ve been living in Singapore (I really had it in my head that it was more recent). They stay in the River Wonders park of the Mandai Wildlife Reserves area in a specialised climate-controlled home, the Pavilion Capital Giant Panda Forest. The River Wonders park (formerly River Safari) gradually opened across 2012-2014 (it looks like there were different phases, with the pandas being opening stars!), so it’s a pretty new zoological park in general – more on that in an upcoming post with what else you can see at River Wonders!
So finally in February 2025 I’ve made it to visit these pandas, my first pandas of this trip and of 2025 and the first pandas I’ve seen in almost 9 months, that’s the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing a panda (well, since before there were pandas living at Edinburgh Zoo)! I had such a great day visiting the pandas here, was a great viewing experience and environment for pandas, and I would highly recommend it if you’re ever in Singapore, or a nearby country. And had such a lovely experience meeting some of the Singaporean panda fans – I then went on to meet one of their friends when I was in Dujiangyan, and met one of them again in the Chengdu Panda Base, who it turned out had seen me and Jeroen (from Giant Panda Global) at the Dujiangyan Base last year when we were mobbed by school kids, what a small world!
The Pavilion Capital Giant Panda Forest building is located around halfway through the loop of River Wonders, following the Yangtze River exhibition space. As you cross from the aquatic section there is firstly a photo opportunity, with big panda signage and photographers available to take purchasable photos. After this the bamboo walls had some lovely panda artwork displayed on them, this then opened up to a large covered and shaded atrium area to the entrance of the building. Here there was plenty of seating and I could see remnants of what was likely a socially distanced queueing system – I think it probably worked out to be a great space for that. On the final stretch before the entrance to the climate-controlled area (to a more temperate temperature) there are some lovely signs and info about Le Le – he is the first, and so far only, born cub in Singapore! He was born there in 2021 and moved to China in January 2024, where I saw him on my May 2024 trip. There is information about his development and lots of lovely momentos of his early life in Singapore.
Both within the exhibit and afterwards outside the building there were plenty of panda statues and signs to get photos of, along with educational information about caring for pandas and their requirements. I thought this was really nicely done and made good use of the room space between the viewing walkways of the two panda yards. It was also a big space so plenty of room which I can see being good especially if there were school groups visiting. I visited on a Monday and it felt very quiet and actually I didn’t see any school groups at all. I think the busiest at the pandas there were maybe 20-30 people viewing but even with that everyone could get a good view and no-one needed to jostle for a prime position, which was a really good experience! Within the building there wasn’t a one-way system in place, so I could easily go back and forth between the two yards to see the pandas as I wished. Once exiting the building however it was a one-way system, so you could walk around on the riverside boardwalk to get back to the entrance.
After viewing the pandas you exit into a gift shop with, of course, panda merch to buy – I didn’t end up getting anything here because it was all quite generic panda stuff, nothing was hugely specific to these pandas. Even just postcards with the pandas and their names would have been good! However after leaving the shop there was a coin machine where you can get different coins of animals at the park, and they had a cute panda one with all 3 of the pandas along with their names, so that was something I did get (I think this was S$15). After the shop was also the photo-purchase area for if you had done photos earlier, along with toilets and a panda themed restaurant, Mama Panda Kitchen! I love a themed restaurant so this was perfect for me, they had lots of panda-shaped items or with a panda on top and some Chinese dishes as well. For the only food-option in the park, it wasn’t a huge space, but actually it wasn’t all that busy either and I went during typical lunch hours. I picked the dan dan mian, a classic Chengdu noodle dish, with a side of fries (mostly in case the noodles were too spicy and I needed a break between mouthfulls XD) with a chocolate-filled panda bao bun as a sweet treat. The food was pretty good, the noodles were tasty and a little spicy but for me it was just the right level – the portion was just a little too big for me and I definitely didn’t need the fries as well! The bowl was super cute with a panda design on it. The chocolate bao bun was nice, definitely not a classic Asian bao option but I really got it because it looked like a panda, plus it definitely kept me full for the rest of the day.
Jia Jia
The first panda I saw was Jia Jia 嘉嘉! Jia Jia is the female panda and she was born in 2008, making her 16 years old when I visited her. Now her sign was actually on the second yard in the building, but she was in the first as they do swaps coming up to and during the breeding season – I think this confused many visitors as they were calling her Kai Kai when talking about her. There are some key differences in the appearance of the two, but I knew immediately which panda was the male because he was sitting eating with his legs wide open, showing it all off XD The signage for each panda is super cute, but my only comment is that they don’t say on them which panda is the male and which is the female, while I know because I had already looked into information about them before my visit, the average visitor wouldn’t have a clue (unless of course Kai Kai again sat with his legs open).
Each of the yards has two sections and the pandas are able to move between the sections by a path under the walkway for the visitors, I really liked this and it made for two quite different environments for each of the individual yards. There is also a little ‘howdy’ window/door between the yards so the two have the opportunity for communication this way and I was lucky enough to see Jia Jia standing at the door looking for Kai Kai at one point!
As I entered the building, Jia Jia was on the right side of her yard, here there was a lot of foliage with a perfect slope for leaning against while chowing down on her bamboo! She seemed to enjoy having her bamboo here and I saw her in this spot a couple of times over the day. Once she’d eventually finished that pile of bamboo she made her way onto the other half of her yard, which has a range of elevations and terrains, with rocks and climbing options plus some water. She really made the most of all of her space which I really enjoyed seeing. I spent most of the day at the pandas and Jia Jia was awake for the majority of the time I was there – she spent a lot of time eating bamboo and only a little time sleeping, which was quite amazing. I loved seeing her being given her enrichment – there was a thick hollow piece of bamboo with some leaves inside with hidden treats, and she spent a long time carefully dissecting the bamboo shell to find the treats, and then made sure she had looked absolutely everywhere to get them all! So precious^
Kai Kai
And then I saw male panda Kai Kai 凯凯! He was born in 2007, making him 17 years old on my visit. He was born in Wolong but after the earthquake when he was just a little cub he moved to the Ya’an Bifengxia Base. When I first saw him he was enjoying bamboo on the left side of his yard, which is the larger section. He was right at the base of it, so you were looking down to him from the viewing walkway. He spent a lot of time there eating over the day, actually it wasn’t a great spot for photos because of the roof windows letting in sun on him – so I can see why he picked a nice sunny spot, but it wasn’t great for photo lighting. What I really liked about this yard was the steps from where he was sat up the side of the pool to the waterfall, it makes for a very nice aesthetic looking panda yard. Alike Jia Jia‘s yard, this one also had a good level of foliage and different plants, plus plenty of open space for easy photographing! Alike Jia Jia, he also made really good use of his yard space. Most of the time he was on the left side, but later in the day I did spot him move over to the smaller right side to enjoy his afternoon sitting of bamboo – I did find it a bit harder to get photos of him here because he was partially obscured by a climbing frame.
After breakfast, Kai Kai had a drink from the pool and then was active up at the back of his yard – this is where there is a door for the keepers, and at one point they threw in some bamboo shoots from a window in the door, so I think he was waiting for those eagerly! He stood up on his back legs quite a few times to look up one of the tree frames, and he even climbed at one point which I waited ages for then only managed to catch a few photos of, but it was cute and it’s also lovely seeing the slightly older pandas climb too. In the afternoon Kai Kai also got some enrichment, his thick hollow bamboo was a lot longer than Jia Jia‘s and was also filled with leaves and treats. He also spent a long time making sure he had found every last one, it was such an adorable sight to see him holding the stick of bamboo and he really looked like a little baby curled up, so cute^ Overall I really love the photos I got of Kai Kai, he just looks so happy and smiley enjoying his bamboo, it’s super sweet.
It’s also quite easy to spot Kai Kai‘s most recognisable and very unique feature – his pink nose! Originally when he arrived his nose was black but over time it became more pink and today is pretty much completely pink. This is a feature he has inherited from his father, Wu Gang, whose nose is partly pink as well. I think this is pretty special, and it keeps Kai Kai a super memorable panda, but as a plus, it keeps the two pandas here at River Wonders easily identifiable.
