Giant pandas moved to Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen, The Netherlands in the Spring of 2017 – and they have become the latest pair of panda parents in Europe with the female giving birth on the 1st of May 2020 following a natural pairing back in January. The pandas live in a very beautiful enclosure called ‘Pandasia’ which is designed in bold red with traditional Chinese details all around, it’s fantastic! The building is in two halves, and is almost completely surrounded by the outdoor enclosures, so when you enter the main gate, on the left is one outdoor enclosure, wrapping around the left building and indoor enclosure and on the right is the same, with each panda having a half. The indoor enclosures are viewed only through glass, and you are above the panda, looking down into the enclosures which you can see in some of the pictures below. Then there are also walkways looping up and around each of the buildings, so ontop of the indoor enclosures there is a restaurant with Asian themed food, and also a panda gift shop. The walkways around the buildings are above the outdoor enclosures, so when the pandas are outside, you can view them from ground level and also above.
Xing Ya
Xing Ya is the new dad, he is the male panda at Ouwehands and was born on 5th August 2013. He was a little more active first thing in the morning when we visited on a weekend in February 2019. The weather was great, and he spent a little time outside before keeping inside for most of the day. It seemed his favourite spot was definitely up a tree – in the inside enclosures they have very good height, you are above the panda if they are on the ground, but there are several pillar with a range of platforms and trees wrapping around them and weaving across the space – so when he was up in the branches, he was almost at the same height as the viewing window, and really quite close. You can view from the main large front windows, or walk around to the little side windows where you can get a good view if he is over at the edge. In the afternoon after a lengthy nap he was up and about again and really enjoyed playing with the enrichment tube that you can see in a few of the pictures.
Wu Wen
New mum Wu Wen is the female at Ouwehands, born on the 11th August 2013 – in some of the videos shared on social media from the zoo she looks like she is settling right into her new role. The above picture gives a good overview of the enclosure – it’s flat along the front, and then is raised towards the back, with different features like a rock-style surface, and even a stream running through the space. The wooden walkways cover the whole space, with different heights and surfaces for Wu Wen to walk on – when we were there she was very active, and I think she covered every surface of the enclosure! She seemed to really like going up and down the different ladders and making use of all of the height offered.
In the afternoon one of the keepers had placed some treats (it looked like some pieces of carrot) around different places in the enclosure, so up on various platforms and on the roof of this very cute little wooden hut. Wu Wen then spent probably around 30 minutes searching for all of the treats, she was very thorough in her search, it was a lot quieter around the enclosure at this time, so it was a treat for me to see this!
She also made good use of her outdoor enclosure – it can be accessed from both sides of the indoor enclosure, so there is choice as to how she goes in and out and where she goes (it’s the same in the male enclosure too). She was all over the outdoor space, where there were a quite a few different wooden climbing platforms and trees and rocks to climb on, it looked like a very interesting space to explore! She was incredibly popular when she was outside, and some visitors were running around the outdoor enclosure perimeter to watch her whole time outside.
I was so happy with my visit to Ouwehands Dierenpark to see the pandas, I can highly recommend it if you are in The Netherlands and I really hope that I can return again soon when the new baby is on show, although I think it might be tricky to see the cub until it is quite mobile and can get around well by itself.