As far as I can remember I’ve not been to see a panda on their birthday before – this year I decided to change that! For my July panda visit I took a weekend visit back to Ouwehands (again) specifically for Lang Yue’s 2nd birthday on the 12th of July 🎉🥳
For this trip, I took an evening flight over to Amsterdam after work on the Friday evening, then got the train to Rhenen where I stayed in the Paviljoen Hotel – conveniently located next door to Ouwehands, quite literally less than a minute walk from the hotel to the zoo entrance, it’s perfect! I then had both Saturday and Sunday at the zoo, before heading back to the airport on Sunday evening for the late flight back home (and luckily I’d taken Monday off work to have a little recovery time!). Honestly I had such a great time and it makes for a great weekend away! I really lucked out with the weather and ended up being away in heat-wave conditions, so it was around 29-30 degrees C when I was there – this is a real Summer for a Scottish person! It was a little on the warm side for the pandas, with them coming outside a bit less than when I was there in June, but I still saw everyone outside so I’d call that a success. Now there wasn’t a birthday celebration as such planned for Lang Yue, so no fruit/ice cake like you see at the Chinese zoos/bases but it was still very nice to see Lang Yue on her special day and she did get what appeared to be a very nice enrichment treat. Now being 2 years old, Lang Yue really could be sent to continue her life in China at any time, while a date hasn’t been announced, I suspect this is likely the last time for me to see her in the Netherlands. So onto the pandas:
Xing Ya
Xing Ya wasn’t loving the warm weather – but I got lucky and did manage to spot him outside for a short period of time. He was super cute and really treated me to a perfect view of him eating^ But on the other hand I saw him exploring his indoor space very well, he was using most of the walkways around the space, climbing up to the highest points and relaxing in what looked to be rather uncomfortable positions (but you know, if that suits you Xing!). So many pictures taken, but for sure the best is where I just happened to be at the right spot to see him climb up his tree on the left side of his house and he looked at me directly in the eye and was only a meter or so from me! Honestly a highlight moment of pandas for this year for me! He did also get plenty of enrichment treats to investigate – he enjoyed them all, but possibly liked his ice block hidden in a cardboard box the best, he made very quick work of that box!
Wu Wen + Lang Yue
Had another great time watching this pair – and they seem to have chilled out since my June visit, there was a lot less biting involved this time! On the Saturday both of them spent some time outside enjoying bamboo in both the sun and in shaded spots of their yard (it’s a good one for this as there are 3 different directions of the yard so it’s not always catching the sun), albeit not for super long, but I got some really nice pictures and had such a special time seeing Lang Yue incredibly close up while she sat in a bamboo bush eating the bamboo. On the Sunday although it was a little cooler, Wu Wen didn’t head outside, but Lang Yue took maybe 5 minutes for some bamboo in the shade – on the Sunday the door to the outside was only open for a couple of hours from approximately 11AM-1PM. When I arrived on the Saturday, both of them were sitting enjoying breakfast, and actually they both spent the majority of the day on show. They were mostly good at sticking to separate piles of bamboo, but there was a little tussling over bamboo going on when one pile was done and a panda was searching out a new pile – Lang Yue is very close to Wu Wen in size and I’m sure also strength at this point now, so it will be a pretty even fight for the best bamboo! Lunch was taken outside for the girls, they stayed out around 30 minutes, and Lang Yue came outside again around 2PM for more bamboo. Then the rest of the afternoon was bamboo inside and a little resting and digesting^ On the Sunday, the birthday day itself, Lang Yue decided on a lie in in the off show den – she didn’t make an appearance until 11AM! Making her adoring fans wait for her for over an hour! But it was worth the wait of course. The keepers had filled her big bucket with some sawdust, and as soon as the door opened, Lang Yue headed immediately for the bucket and had a great play for over 5 minutes – she got into the bucket quickly and had a great roll around, absolutely covering herself in the sawdust. This was a little helpful as it meant for the next few hours, I knew that Lang Yue was the panda who had sawdust all over her fur. She absolutely loved it, while Wu Wen didn’t really give the bucket a look, she was more keen to eat the fresh bamboo offered to her. After some playtime, Lang Yue went outside for bamboo in the shade, but came back in to join Wu Wen after only 5 or so minutes. And later in the afternoon she was back in the sawdust as well! Both Wu Wen and Lang Yue enjoyed some of the enrichment items, like a fireman’s hose toy and some sort of packet filled with something nice that they were rubbing all around their heads and necks. Lang Yue was quite keen to play while Wu Wen was trying to sleep – and she would climb up on the branches and drop herself on top of poor Wu Wen trying to make her wake up and play! It was super cute to see but mum Wu Wen just wanted some rest!
Anyway, even though no panda cake, I still think the trip was worth it, and if that was the last time I see Wu Wen and Lang Yue together, then I’ve definitely ended on a highlight.
