Next in the Panda Creek Valley is the Bright Moon Pavilion – there are 2 indoor and 6 outdoor yards like the others in this area so far. There are 6 pandas listed as living here currently, so actually lots of options and it’s the possibility to see all the pandas outside. On my visit it was inside only, and I saw 3 pandas across the two different days. I was very excited to see A Bao 阿宝/Po who was born at Zoo Madrid in 2010 – his twin is De De who I already saw at Panda Valley and loved, unfortunately A Bao/Po was just sleeping right at the back of the space on both days, so I didn’t really get a clear view of him. There were also possibly 3 pandas who I then didn’t see here – I’m not sure which ones unfortunately as there has been a reshuffle of pandas in this house, so currently I don’t see either of the below pandas listed as living here, thus can’t figure out who I missed! A Bao is still listed as living in this house, so he might also be able to be seen =)

The second of the 7 houses in Panda Creek Valley is the River Moon Pavilion – here there are 2 indoor and 6 outdoor yards, and currently there are 9 pandas living in this house. This house is quite identical to the previous Embracing Moon Pavilion. Four of these are 3 years old, so are still living together as young pandas, while the other 5 will be living as solo adults. On my visit across the two days I saw the 4 youngsters living together (first day only), and then two separate adult pandas, one of whom I saw on both days:

Into the final area – the Panda Creek Valley, where there are 7 houses to see giant pandas in, and first up it’s the Embracing Moon Pavilion. Here there are 2 indoor and 6 outdoor yards – the indoor space is only open in the Summer due to the higher temperatures meaning you are unlikely to see pandas outside. On my visit there were only pandas inside in all of the houses in the Panda Creek Valley. The app shows the Embracing Moon Pavilion to house 9 giant pandas currently, 4 of these are 2 years old so will be living together while the other 5 will be living solo. On my visit I saw the same 2 pandas on both days:

The Star Giant Panda Nursery House is the second house open in the Panda Forest Area – there are 4 indoor enclosures and 8 outdoor yards, so plenty of pandas to potentially see here! There are also nursery facilities, so this is an area birth and cub-rearing. When I was there I didn’t see any mums with cubs, but I did see some 2023-born cubs which I was very happy about, and of course also some adult pandas, all in the indoor enclosures. In this house the inside is set up with shops and a small cafe, with a very large and spacious area to view the indoor enclosures which are set out very separately – this gives plenty of viewing space which will be great on crowded days. When I was there it was pretty quiet, there were lots of other people viewing the pandas, but I had no problems getting a good spot to see the pandas. The indoor enclosures here are all build into the ground, so you are looking down on the pandas into their indoor spaces to see them through glass – this is quite different to all the other houses at the base, but comparable to the indoor enclosure at Ouwehands Dierenpark for example.