Will Travel For Pandas

September 22, 2025September 7, 2025 Kirsten

A brand new pair of PANDAS @ O C E A N P A R K H O N G K O N G February 2025

So excited to share a brand new pair of pandas living at Ocean Park! On the 1st of July 2024 it was announced that a new pair of pandas was being gifted to Hong Kong – super exciting as this made me want to go back and visit again after having just been in May 2024. The pandas chosen were male An An 安安 (who I saw in Ya’an Bifengxia Base in May 2024) and female Ke Ke 可可, who were both 5 years old on their arrival in Hong Kong. They arrived on the 26th of September 2024 and went on show to the public from the 8th of December 2024. The pair are living in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures section of the park, which I quite like as it means you have two very different areas to see pandas in – this was the original home of the first pandas living at Ocean Park, An An and Jia Jia who lived amazing lives into their 30’s and were much loved there. The viewing area for seeing the pandas in this building is smaller than the other area, however there are two levels to the pathway which I like and the front windows are quite long, a surprisingly large number of people can fit along and get a view at once and there were always staff members there to keep people moving (and also keep the noise down). All viewing here is through glass, but because it’s inside there isn’t the stress of the reflection of the sun and overall it’s quite a dark environment which works quite well for viewing through the window, which was also very clean – I had no issues getting photos at all! I visited the building several times across the day and never needed to queue up or wait to get a spot to see either panda, I think with the twins having just gone on show, that there were maybe fewer visitors heading this way so that worked in my favour to give these guys some attention too^

September 18, 2025September 6, 2025 Kirsten

What’s new at OCEAN PARK HONG KONG – it’s all about the pandas!

Since my first (and only) visit to Ocean Park only 9 months ago so much has changed! Knowing that a new adult pair of pandas was arriving from China, I was already keen to visit again and see them, but the birth of twins to first-time mum Ying Ying at 19 years old, well it was no question that I would return on my next trip! From stepping off the metro at the park entrance, the impact of both the twins and the new pandas could be seen – panda-mania has overtaken Hong Kong! In the days leading up to my visit my social media pages were absolutely filled with all the places you could see panda pictures, food and merch over Hong Kong, and I got incredibly lucky in that I was already travelling when it was announced that the twins would make their debut on February 16th – my visit was on the 21st! I don’t think it had crossed my mind that I might not see them XD

September 15, 2025September 6, 2025 Kirsten

Two nights, two PANDA HOTELS – staying in the Chimelong Panda Hotel and Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel

I ended my trip staying in panda-paradise – what panda lover wouldn’t want to stay in a panda themed hotel?!?! When visiting the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou I knew I wanted to stay nearby to make the most of my time there. Chimelong has a whole series of resorts, with the Guangzhou site being just one of them with a number of parks, activities and hotels on offer, of course I chose the Chimelong Panda Hotel for my stay! They’ve gone all out, it is completely all about the pandas here. When I went on to Hong Kong I knew I also wanted to stay close to Ocean Park, and you can’t get closer than the Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel. It’s quite literally on the doorstep of the park, and while the whole hotel isn’t panda themed, you can choose a panda themed room!

September 12, 2025August 31, 2025 Kirsten

Chimelong Safari Park, February 2025

Time to show some more of the Chimelong Safari Park – of course, I took some time to see the other animals as well as the pandas, but it’s a huge park and I didn’t quite get around to seeing it all, it definitely feels like 2 full days would be needed to really make the most of it (so will aim for that next time!) however that won’t be a cheap trip. I paid around £30 for my 1-day ticket, so a more premium zoo in China and coming the a premium price tag – for me it has a lot of pandas, so the price is worth it, but they do also have a wide range of other animals on show, including some I’ve not seen before.

September 10, 2025August 31, 2025 Kirsten

Guo Qing @ Chimelong Safari Park, February 2025

The final panda to share about at Chimelong Safari Park – it’s Guo Qing 国庆! Guo Qing was living in the separate section that you walked around to after viewing Meng Meng and Mei Zhu, and she was very very popular, always lots of people standing to watch her and I think she was loving the attention^ Guo Qing was 5.5 years old on my visit, so still quite young – she was very active and hungry, perhaps she’s been one of the only pandas I’ve not seen sleeping at all during my visit! She was very much enjoying climbing and being up high. The first time I went past she was sitting up on a log, then climbed over onto her high chair where there were some bamboo shoots to enjoy – so cute to see this, this was the sort of activity levels I was hoping for, and to see the chair getting used. She also played with her tire swing (treats were inside the tire), and then went into her wheel, where there was another enrichment ball tied up with treats inside too. She was very thorough in making sure she got every last one. Later she was up on a platform enjoying bamboo, and at the end of the day she was climbing again – so cute to see her dismount off the chair, opting for a head-first method and doing a roll mid-way before running off quickly once she got down!

There wasn’t a lot of information about her, but I know her name means ‘national day’ and that’s because she was born on China’s 70th anniversary, so I think that’s a nice touch. Her mum is Mei Qing, who I saw in the yard with the train already. Guo Qing is described to have a bold and active personality and I certainly saw that on my visit. There are lots of very adorable photos of her and her bold personality online, those are definitely worth a search!