Will Travel For Pandas

June 24, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Bruges in January

Back in January I visited Belgium to start 2020 – I was invited to the Giant Panda Global Awards held in Pairi Daiza on the 3rd of January, so I added a couple of days onto my trip so that I could visit elsewhere in Belgium. I’ve been to Ghent a couple of times as I have a friend there, and I’ve also been to Bruges before on a day trip. However I went to Bruges very unprepared so I didn’t make the most of my time there, I decided I would spend the weekend in Bruges this time and I did a little research before going! After being at Pairi Daiza and getting some viewing time with the pandas of course, my friend took me back to Ghent, and then I caught the train to Bruges, so I ended up having pretty much 1.5 days in Bruges to fill. I took so many pictures on this visit, and I did so much walking around the city – so I rounded up some of my top things to do when visiting Bruges!

June 17, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Pictures from Ouwehands Dierenpark

Of course as well as seeing the pandas at Ouwehands, there were plenty other animals to see! I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I usually take, so I don’t have many pictures, or of every animal that they have. But it’s a very lovely park, it really feels a little in the wilderness and it’s quite a big park, which was a nice surprise that I didn’t expect. So today sharing some pictures and a little info of what I have from Ouwehands. I was really hoping to visit again this year, even before the baby panda was born, as they have a pair of polar bear cubs which are just adorable in the videos posted on their social media pages! Our visit was on a weekend in February, and actually the weather was great, it was sunny and not too cold, and whilst there were a lot of people at the zoo, it wasn’t so busy that there were too many people.

June 10, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

Chengdu City Guide

Welcome to Chengdu! Chengdu was the first city I visited in China back in 2016, and I’ve been back every year since – however I did most of these things in the first two years, and only added a couple of things in my last two years of trips. If I am able to travel this year I’m planning to tick some sights off my ‘to see’ list in the city. I really love the city, I don’t find it too hard to navigate, and it really doesn’t seem too big – however the population is 16 million, fairly close to Beijing 21.5 million (for reference, Scotlands apparently tiny population is 5.5 million). But it has such a different vibe to Beijing. In the past 4 years there has been a lot of development in the city, whole skyscrapers have been put up all over the place and I’ve really felt the expansion of the city when travelling around the area of the Panda Base which is just outside the city centre. This isn’t an extensive guide by any means, but just provides a few really interesting and cool things you can do to add to your trip to see the pandas (which is probably the reason for most trips to the area)!

June 3, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

P A N D A S @ O U W E H A N D S D I E R E N P A R K

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.

May 27, 2020December 24, 2023 Kirsten

P A N D A S @ E D I N B U R G H Z O O

My home zoo! This should perhaps have been my first post to write, because I’m from Edinburgh, so these are my ‘home pandas’ as such. Pandas arrived in Edinburgh in 2011 on a 10 year loan from CCRCGP – most of their stay in Edinburgh has already passed, and there are less than two years left unless a new deal is made to keep them on. The above picture is the original outdoor space in the panda enclosure – in 2019 a new enclosure was built, further up the hill in the zoo and in a more secluded area with more space outside. Below you can see the space under construction and Yang Guang’s yard completed. The pandas moved into their new home in the Summer of 2019, so they’ve been there for almost a year now.