This was one of the most popular spots at the whole base – everyone wanted a glimpse of Le Le 叻叻, the cub who was born in Singapore and who only recently travelled to China! Le Le was born in 2021 at the River Wonders, Mandai Wildlife Reserve and in January 2024 made the trip to China to start his independent life. Although not too independent because he has roommates in his new home in the Diequan Garden 蝶泉园 of Dujiangyan Panda Base. I’m not sure I’ve seen them pair an overseas-born returned cub with other cubs before, but he is still quite young at only 2.5 years old on his return, and most cubs this age in China are living with other young ones. His roommates are twins, male Qing Zai 青仔 and female Qing Bao 青宝 who were also born in 2021.

The sign says that Le Le is lively, naughty and enjoys exploring new things. Qing Zai is lively, clever and a ‘typical foodie’ which is a super cute description because I’m sure all pandas are foodies^ Qing Bao is alert, more sensitive and prefers her own company, she can often be seen resting in the trees. Qing Zai and Qing Bao‘s parents are Qing Qing 青青 and Jia Mei 家美 – Qing Qing is a bit of a panda celebrity, he has a distinctive pink lower lip (and a super cute fluffy round face^) and I saw him at the Dujiangyan Panda Base on my 2017 trip! On this occasion all pandas were down on the ground – initially Le Le and one of the twins (I think we established that this was Qing Zai) were on the concrete platform enjoying bamboo, with Le Le the one on the left as you look at them. These two were thoroughly enjoying lying back and chowing down on the bamboo. Eventually Qing Zai got up in search of a different pile of bamboo, and Qing Bao walked over – she had been hanging around the entrance to the indoor area but once her brother had gotten up, she came over and sat down just behind Le Le to enjoy some bamboo (can be seen in the last photo below).

It was lovely to get to see another returned panda, Le Le was somewhat of a surprise as I hadn’t really thought I might get to see him. What transpired after my trip made me glad that I also saw Qing Bao – just after I got back, it was announced that Qing Bao was the female selected to be moving to the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. This has definitely added to the popularity of this trio and there are so many videos and photo albums online of these three.