When I started taking trips to visit pandas, going to the US never really crossed my mind as an option – and I was quite happy because we have plenty of pandas to see here in Europe. But back in 2018 I was planning out where I could go in the Autumn and somehow Washington DC ended up on the list – there was the option for a direct flight from Edinburgh, and it only took around 7 hours, and I was going to get a pretty good deal with my Expedia points, so I persuaded my mum to join me on my first trip to see American pandas! Also having seen Tai Shan and Bao Bao the previous year in Dujiangyan, I was quite looking forward to the prospect of seeing little brother Bei Bei while he was still living in Washington DC with his parents.
The giant pandas stay in the Asia Trail of the National Zoo which had a very nice atmosphere through the whole area. To get into the pandas first you see the outdoor enclosures which I thought was a nice introduction and there were plenty of signs up with information about the pandas. What I liked was including information about the habitats which isn’t something I’ve seen in other zoos. There were plenty of places to see each of the three outdoor enclosures from, including some covered areas. Then you also pass by the red pandas – I’ve been in quite a few zoos that place the giant and red pandas together so this wasn’t surprising. And then lastly you enter the indoor viewing, which was where all three of the pandas were when we first arrived at the zoo. So now onto each of the pandas and a cut-down selection of the hundreds of photos I took, this really was a great trip! We even managed to have two visits to the Zoo on our trip which really was perfect. Since my visit, Bei Bei has returned to China and Mei Xiang has had her fourth surviving cub, so I’m a little itching to get back within the next few years =)
Bei Bei
I of course must start with Bei Bei who I was most excited to see, and he completely lived up to my expectations^ I remember watching on pandacam back in 2016 when he took his first steps outside and climbed a tree for the first time (and many times after that) so it was just amazing to see him in person. Of course at this time in 2018 he was 3 years old (born in August 2015) and was living separately from his mum. Bei Bei was living in the first enclosure in the giant panda house – there was one large indoor room for him (with off-show space too), and then a huge outdoor enclosure, I think he had the largest of the 3 outdoor spaces with lots of trees and different elevations, rocks, logs and a lot of hiding places for him to sit out of sight. We saw him both inside and outside, but as it was fairly hot he spent most time inside. In the early afternoon there was an afternoon outdoor feeding time, which was when he did venture out for what looked like a frozen treat with some fruit. It was adorable to watch and he seemed to like having both paws full at the same time!
Mei Xiang
Mama panda Mei Xiang has the second indoor space in the giant panda house – she has two joined rooms inside and one space outside, and spent most of her time inside on our visits, only coming out for her frozen treat! I don’t remember if Mei Xiang was mated that year, but it’s likely she was still at the end of her cycle on our visit (September) and so maybe wasn’t quite feeling herself yet. She spent a lot of time sleeping on the rock platforms at the back of her indoor space, which doesn’t look particularly comfy to me, but it must be just what she wanted! On our second visit of the trip she was much more active, this was in the afternoon, so perhaps she prefers that over the earlier morning hours – she was enjoying some bamboo right at the glass of her indoor viewing area, it was super cute seeing her pressed up against it for her snack. It’s exactly how I most often view Tian Tian at Edinburgh Zoo, her favourite seated position seems to be back to the public! While I watched her eating like that Bei Bei was also eating in a similar position, but he seemed to attract the few other people visiting at the same time, so I had Mei Xiang all to myself!
Tian Tian
And for final panda at the National Zoo, Tian Tian! It can be a little confusing as here Tian Tian is the male, yet at Edinburgh Zoo Tian Tian is the female, however I think in their native Mandarin, the pronunciations of the two are slightly different which makes it easier to tell them apart. I just found Tian Tian to have such a beautiful look to him, he just has such a different face and expression to many other pandas I’ve seen, he looks so gentle and of course beautiful. He has the third indoor enclosure in the panda house, and I found he always had fewer people standing to watch him, I think everyone automatically gravitated towards young Bei Bei instead. He was also a little less active than the others, preferring sleep and eating bamboo to moving around. On our second visit of the trip he had an enrichment toy which must have had some good treats inside (seen in the last picture below) because he was going crazy for it rolling it around and smelling all over it, which was nice to see for an older panda. He also loved his frozen fruit treat served outside, he was the one outside for longest making sure he got every last little piece of it and after he’d finished he checked his belly and the ground around him to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, which was so adorable =D
There was a daily keeper talk at the pandas as well which we made sure to attend, this was very informative about these three pandas but also about pandas in general. We were there on a weekday so it wasn’t too busy with around 25 people attending the talk – I think this was a really nice sized crowd as a lot of people could have made it harder to hear or get a clear view of the pandas whilst the keeper was speaking. And it meant there was more opportunity for visitors to ask questions.
After our visit the panda house was closed for some renovations, so I’m not sure how much stayed the same or changed, however it was definitely the most educational panda exhibit I’ve seen of all of the places I’ve been to. There was so much information about the history of pandas, particularly about the first pair of pandas which lived in the National Zoo before Mei Xiang and Tian Tian which was very interesting, and about cub development and veterinary information, plus so many pictures of the pandas at National Zoo over the years – it really was so impressive!
At the time of writing this post in September 2020 there are some renovations happening in the Asia Trail thus the exhibits in this area are currently closed, so to see the pandas you will have to check out the excellent panda cam which the National Zoo has – this would be the only way to watch the cub at this tiny size anyway. The zoo also has some restrictions due to Covid-19 so if you are visiting please make sure to check those out before going. I hope you enjoyed this post and the pictures of these beautiful giant pandas!