The next panda to share with you also living solo in the Breeding Centre at Panda Valley is Oreo 奥莉奥! Oreo lives in the third yard upstairs in the Breeding Centre, so you have a circular view and can see him from just about any angle. When I was there he was up the back enjoying bamboo on both visits. On my first visit he was positioned quite near the edge of the yard and close to some perimeter bushes, so I couldn’t really see him well enough for pictures. I was very glad when I returned on my second visit and he was in a better spot. He was in the same area and still enjoying his bamboo! He was one of the more popular pandas, with a crowd of around 10-15 people who were taking up most of the viewing spot right in front of him, so I did have to wait a bit and get my elbows out when I wanted in. I think I had it in my head that Oreo was a younger panda, but he’s now 12 years old! But still looks young to me^ His sign says he is round and fond of bamboo, I can definitely attest to that =)

The Breeding Centre is the first panda yards you come across in Panda Valley and it looks to be perhaps the latest built because it has quite a different design to the other 3 houses here. I saw a total of 6 pandas living here, but there were also off-show areas inside so there may have been another panda or two also here. When you first come up to the area from the front of the park there is immediately one outdoor yard which has almost a circular design with viewing a lot of the way around. Then you head to the left and through a covered walkway viewing 2 indoor areas – one always had curtains drawn around it when I visited, but the second was very large with a climbing structure in the middle and roof windows to keep it bright – I saw pandas in here later in the day on my first visit. You then take the stairs or a lift/elevator up one floor and from there you can view 3 outdoor yards which have multiple viewing options. The first one you come to is the largest, then the middle one is long and thin, then the final one is slightly larger and this one is like a half circle that you can view on the rounded edge – when you walk around this, you then next come to long thin yard again from the other side, and finally again the largest yard from the other side. I really liked the design here with the viewing options depending on where the pandas were within their yards. Whilst this is called the Breeding Centre, I didn’t see any babies or kindergarten-aged pandas here. Maybe I was just here at the wrong time, or maybe they don’t have mums with babies/a nursery-style set up any more, I’m not sure. First I will share about two of the solo pandas living in this area of Panda Valley: