After a few days in Berlin, it was time for the next panda stop, heading to Pairi Daiza in Belgium! As well as it being my 4th visit to Zoo Berlin, this was also my 4th visit to Pairi Daiza, and second time staying on site in the resort. Of course, the trip was all about the pandas – and actually this was my first time there when there was just the 2 adult pandas, previous visits have been for cubs Tian Bao, and Bao Di and Bao Mei. This was definitely a more relaxed visit with just 2 pandas to see and both living in the same area, which was quite nice and reminded me of my usual Edinburgh Zoo visits where it was always just adults and those were still a fun experience!
The theming around the Panda Grotto is much the same, I like the design with the rock-work and all the bamboo, and it’s unique from the other panda zoos that I’ve been to. As it was shortly after Easter, the Easter theming was still up, the large eggs with different designs around the park looked great and were fun to check out, and so detailed – of course there was a panda one too^ I also like that the research information is still up – in case you are interested, this was for a project from a number of years ago that I was involved with (spy the University of Edinburgh logo included on the poster, that’s me!) with Jella Wauters, she supervised my PhD and we’re still friends, so it was good to catch up with her on my trip this year.
There is still the panda shop at the exit of the Panda Grotto with everything panda, however with the new entrance (more on that later), there is a great display of panda products in the windows of the main shop – I love the sweatshirt I got here back in 2020, so have now also got a t-shirt to match! And speaking of the new entrance, the mosaics and murals are beautiful with of course some panda additions in there too, I really love these and they’re something unique to Pairi Daiza and very memorable. Now I do think the only thing that is perhaps ‘missing’ would be some panda themed food, I think there is/was an ice lolly at one point, but I didn’t see it when I was there. I’m thinking the options like at Ocean Park would be a great fit here^
Xing Hui 星徽
It’s male Xing Hui 星徽! And I really had high hopes of seeing him on this trip, I’ve hardly seen any of him at all on my previous visits. It’s interesting, I’m used to going to places and it being the female who is more shy and elusive, but here it seems that Xing Hui has that personality. Last time I got maybe 4 or 5 photos of him, so I do think this is an upgrade of sorts, because I saw him outside! So lucky to see that, even if he was wanting to go back inside the whole time XD It was very hot that day, so I think he was just wanting to get a little cooler. Even though the photo of him with his tongue out is a little out of focus, it’s such a cute one of him^ I will still persevere to try and get a great viewing experience with him!
Hao Hao 好好
And for female Hao Hao 好好 – this is the first time I’m seeing her alone without cubs. She was really loving life outside in the hot weather on this visit, she spent so much time outside and was really playing to her audience! When we arrived she was outside up on her platform in the shade, but she quickly woke up and was really tearing into the structure, you could already see where she had clawed away at some sections and where there were some holes. It was really nice to see her active and playful. She did then settle down in what didn’t look comfy, but was a cute position, with her face through two struts of the structure – that made for some very cute pictures^ The next time we went back she was wandering around outside, she didn’t seem particularly interested in bamboo but was keen to explore and make good use of all of her climbing frames. It was great to see her climbing up the ladder and along some of her bridges between platforms. It was cooler on the second day of our visit, but this didn’t deter Hao Hao because she was asleep outside on the platform for most of the day, but we got lucky and saw her awake – she looked like she was going to climb up one of the big log struts, in the end she just had a very thorough scratch on it!
