Of course a priority for my visits to Chengdu Panda Base was to see Yuan Meng 圆梦 again! I first saw him back in his birth country of France when I visited ZooParc de Beauval in 2022, and then I was lucky to see him again back in September 2023 here at the Chengdu Panda Base. At that time he had only recently gone on show to the public and was still a little apprehensive about his new surroundings, but I managed to see him and was so pleased. He’s certainly grown in confidence since then! On both mornings Yuan Meng was just about my first stop (after an hour on the first morning to stop to see Hua Hua) – on the first morning it was a bit later and he was right at the back of the yard and heading inside as the temperatures were rising. I got there earlier on the second morning and the timing was perfect as he was just coming outside as I got there. He had some enrichment and worked on getting some apple pieces out, which he spent a long time at, and then he settled down with a pile of bamboo. He was very popular, with many tour groups stopping at him for pictures. After he had finished his bamboo he climbed up onto a platform at the back of the yard for a sleep. A little while later the keeper was trying to call him inside because of the temperature and he was completely ignoring her! So happy to see him again for a third time, and hopefully I will get to see him again next time^

Next up from the Chengdu Panda Base, visiting the Sunshine Nursery House. For me, this house has changed a lot from my last visit to this one, and especially from pre-2020 to now. This used to be almost strictly cubs and was always where I could see cubs playing. This time it was a lot of adult pandas, and I didn’t see any of them with cubs, but maybe this was just due to the timing of my visit. I did still see some 2023-born cubs in the inside spaces, and luckily I saw these on both days I was there. The one-way system is also still in place from my last visit, but this time there at least was only a short line to get in the inside viewing. But this house definitely isn’t quite as exciting for me as it used to be. The shop does have some pretty good souvenirs though, and the food stall here had a different selection of foods to last time (lots of panda shapes of course^).

After several days based in Dujiangyan and having an afternoon in Chengdu city centre – it was finally time to head out to the Chengdu Panda Base! I had 2 days planned to visit and I really made the most of all the time available, arriving at opening (7:30AM) and not leaving until between 5 and 6PM on both days. Having visited back in September 2023 and experienced a part of the new section of the base, I knew I needed to go in with a bit of a game-plan to see it all.