And the final panda area in Panda Valley is the No3 Giant Panda House! Here I saw two more pandas, both were outside on my visits, but there were also indoor areas – this was a good spot for a break, it was in the shade and nice and cool, plus plenty of spaces to sit down (there aren’t a lot of benches throughout the rest of the park). And it was quiet, there were only a couple of other people also enjoying the space when I was there. Onto the pandas:
Shuang Hao 双好
The first panda I saw was Shuang Hao 双好 and I saw him on both my visits to Panda Valley – he seemed to enjoy spending time outside and was almost always enjoying some bamboo! He is 10 years old, so still quite a young male. His sign says he is known as the ‘panda Mona Lisa’ because of his smile, I think this is a hilarious comparison but I do think he was a particular stand out panda of my visits and he was very happy to be the centre of attention sitting outside. And he was very handsome^ I got so many photos of him, it was tough to narrow them down!
De De
The second, and final panda to share about from Panda Valley, is De De 德德 – De De is an overseas-born panda, being born in Madrid Zoo, Spain to father Bing Xing and mother Hui Zui Ba, who I saw in 2023 in Madrid and who had recently been returned to China themselves. De De was born in 2010, so is now 14 years old, and has a twin brother A Bao. They were Bing Xing and Hui Zui Ba‘s first cubs in Madrid, and the first surviving cubs to be born in Spain (their earlier pair of pandas had a cub who didn’t survive). They then moved to China in 2013. His sign says he enjoys having a siesta, which is sweet, and says you can identify him apart from his brother by his more protruding nose and shaper face – I haven’t seen his twin so can’t confirm, but I do think De De is super cute and he was a very popular panda at Panda Valley.
