Will Travel For Pandas

August 26, 2020April 7, 2024 Kirsten

Dujiangyan Panda Base – 2017

I already wrote about the CCRCGP Dujiangyan Panda Base in my introduction post a little while back, and there I shared about my first trip to the base back in 2016 – I visited again in 2017 and got some great pictures from this trip too, I just had to put together a selection to share! On this trip I visited in an afternoon and the base was almost empty – there was a group doing the keeper experience (learning about pandas and their care, helping out with cleaning of the enclosures, and preparing the bamboo and other snacks), and a few visitors who were serious photographers, with camera lenses the length of my arm! But that really was it, we had the place mostly to ourselves, which was great to experience, and such a quiet and peaceful environment to watch the pandas from – which makes a big contrast to the Chengdu Panda Base.

August 12, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

Edinburgh Zoo – Reopening July 2020

Edinburgh Zoo closed back in March 2020, and finally at the end of June was able to re-open again! There are of course a number of measures in place to keep it safe for everyone, with limited numbers of guests permitted, timed entry slots and social distancing observed to name a few. As a Zoo member, I was able to book a members slot to visit and went on the first weekend of opening on the 4th of July, at this time there was still a 5mile travel ‘ban’ as such, you shouldn’t be travelling more than that distance from your home, so it was still local guests, however that was soon lifted and has allowed more guests the option to visit. Tickets are selling out almost a couple of weeks in advance, so if you’re looking for a specific date, definitely check to book sooner rather than later. It was a little damp on our visit, but not enough to spoil our visit! There is also a new map with the one-way system marked on, and around the paths are various arrows and signs indicating where you should be going – some visitors seemed to not be paying too much attention to these, however there were staff members around to help direct. There were also hand-sanitising stations available, and the toilets (along with some animal viewing areas) were designated as ‘one troop at a time’ to keep with distancing (again, some guests were ignoring this at viewing areas). Some of the animal viewings also had queue systems set up, particularly at the pandas and the lions, however everyone was pretty orderly, and distancing was mostly observed between groups. Now onto the animals!

July 29, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

P A N D A S (+more) @ P A I R I D A I Z A 2017

Pairi Daiza in Belgium is one of the most beautiful zoos I’ve been to – it really can’t even be described as just a zoo, it’s very much more a park with beautiful gardens and scenery to also enjoy. It’s definitely an experience! Pairi Daiza is fairly new, having first opened 1993, but you would never guess being there. Everything about the place is amazing, and for sure my pictures don’t highlight that enough, nor do they cover the whole park – one day is really not enough to cover everything thoroughly, and as a panda fan this was the focus of my visit in the Summer of 2017. I also visited Pairi Daiza at the start of January 2020, however the weather wasn’t so good for taking pictures; I was also due to visit in June a couple of weeks ago, but we’re working on re-scheduling, hopefully we’ll make it by the end of the Summer months!

July 15, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

Snapshots from Vienna

Within Europe, Vienna was the first place I visited specifically to see the giant pandas! I booked the trip almost as soon as they’d announced that Yang Yang had given birth to twins – which was a risk, but I got lucky and those babies were adorable^ I also took my mum along on the trip, we really got a great deal and ended up paying £300 for the two of us for flights and 3 nights in a hotel, which was one of the benefits of travelling in February! So it was a little cold, and there was snow and ice on the ground, but we still had a great time – just need to go back in the nicer weather as I think it will be an equally beautiful city in the summer time. I didn’t take so many photos on the trip so there’s not a whole lot to share but here’s just a snapshot of 3 days in Vienna in February 2017.

July 1, 2020December 25, 2023 Kirsten

P A N D A S @ Ä H T Ä R I Z O O

I was lucky enough to be able to make my first trip to Finland and Ähtäri Zoo during the winter of 2019 to see the Snowpandas in the snow – and this experience of seeing pandas very quickly jumped to the top of my list of panda things to do! It was such a highlight to see the pandas rolling and playing in such deep snow, and it was great to visit a new country to see it – this was my first time in Finland, I’m definitely going to have to go back not only to see the pandas again but also to visit in the rest of the country. On this trip I was lucky to travel with another panda-loving friend which meant it was an easy agreement that we would just panda-watch for all 3 days of our trip! I ended up taking over 2000 photos on this trip, which is just ridiculous, this is a hugely cut down selection and is still a lot for one post!