Ended January with a little panda weekend – back to Zoo Berlin to see the cutie twins and make use of my annual pass again! This time I wasn’t alone, I had my mum and sister tag along. My mum has been to Berlin a few times with me before, but this was my sisters first trip to Berlin and also first time seeing pandas other than the Edinburgh Zoo pair, and first time seeing cubs too! Plus they were in the snow, what luck (because I had to wait years for that)! I decided to treat my mum and sister to an early morning private panda tour, so we had time to ourselves with the pandas, so it was very special =D
Zoo Berlin offers a range of tours and experiences at a range of price points, and several of these are available in both German and English, which is a great offering. I booked the Early Panda experience/tour which is a private option, in English. The start price is €95 for 2 people, then €35 more per additional person (excluding entry to the zoo), and the tour runs from 9-10AM, which includes you getting the panda plaza to your yourselves until 9:30AM. Of course there is also a guide, our guide had excellent English and provided all the information one could want about pandas, both in general but also about the Berlin pandas specifically. There was plenty opportunity to ask questions too, as well as a few surprises – if you want to taste some ‘panda cake’ this tour is for you! There was also time to go and learn about some other animals if you wanted – we headed towards the other carnivores and got stopped at the red pandas because they were out and having a great time in the snow and interacting with each other. Our guide said she’d never seen them so interested in each other before, so we definitely got a special moment (photos in a future post!). I completely would recommend this tour to anyone thinking about it, it was a fantastic experience and I think it was completely worth the money. There is also a VIP panda tour available, this allows you to go into the backstage area of the pandas. This is priced at €499 for 2 people (additional people are €132 per person), however includes zoo entry. This is quite a jump in price, but for the off show experience I think it might be worth it – maybe if I win the lottery one day!
After the tour we spent the rest of the day at the zoo, I spent the majority of my time at the pandas while my mum and sister also explored other animals. Then the following day I came back for a second day of pandas while my mum and sister did some sightseeing around the city. And if there isn’t enough panda merch at the zoo for you, then make sure you make a stop off at Bikini Berlin, this is a small shopping mall just a few minutes from the entrance to the zoo, in here there is a Japanese stationery store called Maido Okini. They have a large shop on the first floor, but the treasure trove was a small space on the ground floor which had super cute stickers, postcards/cards, post-it notes and more – and while not all panda themed, there was a lot of panda themed items and I bought quite a few to keep my stash of panda stickers and washi tapes up^
Jiao Qing 娇庆
So Jiao Qing 娇庆 was the centre of the show during our panda tour! He was sitting right at the front of his inside space chowing down on his breakfast, which was of course a giant pile of bamboo. He even took his bamboo to lounge back on a sloped platform, this was so cute to see, he looked super chill chowing down on his breakfast. And we could get photos without needed to battle with anyone else’s reflections! I went back to him several times over the two days of my visit, and on the first day I happened to see him outside! He didn’t look best pleased about the situation – the keepers were cleaning the inside and replenishing his bamboo so he couldn’t get inside yet – but when they had finished he quickly went back to find the best bamboo pile to start with. While he was outside I got some amazing photos, and even more special there were almost no other visitors around to see him, so that was like a private moment too. It was particularly cold outside (-10 degrees C), so the inside, kept at a comfy 18 degrees C was certainly more appealing to him. He also got some enrichment – the keepers had hung up a brown sack on a post of one of this platforms inside, this had some treats inside but must have also been scented because he spent ages rubbing his head and neck all over the bag. He really loved it! On the second day of my visit I didn’t take so many pictures, he’d been awake for most of the first day, so the next day was more for rest and I saw him sleeping a lot.
Meng Meng 梦梦, Meng Hao (Leni, 梦好) + Meng Tian (Lotti, 梦甜)
On our tour, as we were about to leave and go to see some other animals, the keepers looked like they were almost done preparing the girls’ inside space. So we hung around and got so lucky to see the 3 of them come out from the back, get some treats, and then Lotti 梦甜 went outside! Honestly a highlight of panda viewing for the year already! It looked like she was loving the snow, running around and still trying to climb on her usual frames and slipping a bit! So adorable^ Leni 梦好 did not seem to appreciate the weather as much and chose to stay inside with Meng Meng 梦梦. Lotti stayed outside for quite a while and really took advantage of the weather, meaning I could get some cute pictures and have an amazing experience. Inside was a little tricky to photograph due to the vast difference between the outside and inside temperatures and the glass kept condensing up! The keepers did clean it a few times, so I was grateful for that. Later in the afternoon Lotti was outside again and all the way up in her favourite tree, honestly so high and somehow she looked comfortable even though the branches were thin and it was snowing on her^ On the second day of my visit the girls were less keen on being outside, but still super cute inside. Again with the condensation. I didn’t get as many usable photos as I normally would get from a panda visit, but nevertheless I still had a great time seeing them.
