Next we are onto the Kindergarten area of the base – which was named for when it used to be the kindergarten for all the youngsters, now it’s more of a mixed area. There are some mums with cubs here, but there are also a number of other pandas too. Here there are 5 yards, which held a total of 12 pandas when I was there, first up we’ll see the pairs of pandas who’re not mothers with cubs:
Xiao Bao 小宝 + Pang Yuan 胖圆
First up in the Kindergarten I saw twins Xiao Bao 小宝 and Pang Yuan 胖圆, a male-female pair who were born in 2022, making them 2.5 years old on my visit – pandas I’ve not seen before! They were born at Wolong Shenshuping to mum Yan Hui, who I’ve also not seen before, so a new family of pandas for me. I got to this yard relatively early, coming the ‘over the hill’ path through the woods and down from the back of the yard. It was very misty when I first got there, which did make photos a little tricky but I did get a couple. At that time both pandas were out and scoping out the bamboo available. I ended up moving on, but came back a little later and got some great shots of these two – who really did enjoy their bamboo all day long! These two were super cute, and actually they didn’t really interact very much, they were in their own worlds with the bamboo but later in the afternoon I did get some very cute photos of them sitting together to eat.
Sheng Lan 胜兰 + Bai Ji 白吉
I only caught a passing glimpse at Sheng Lan 胜兰 and Bai Ji 白吉, they are a pair born in 2021 making them 3.5 years old on my visit. They were born a few days apart and are both twins, just not to each other – to mums Zhen Zhen and Ping Ping respectively. The yard they live in is tricky to see, without a clear viewing pathway at the front, there’s a lot of foliage so it’s quite hard to see them – I saw them over the wall while viewing the next yard over.
Xiao Lu 小鲁 + Xiao Jiang 小将
The 3rd set of pandas in this section are Xiao Lu 小鲁 and Xiao Jiang 小将, a 3.5 year old pair of twins who were born to mum Su Shan, who I also haven’t seen before. These two are living in the recognisable ‘space panda’ yard of the kindergarten area. When I stopped by first thing in the morning it was still cleaning time, after that the two came out and went to sleep almost immediately! Luckily when I came back after lunchtime the pair were active and both walking around. One of them headed to the front of the yard down the stairs on the left for an explore, and almost took the dangerous route over the fallen tree back to the back of the yard, but changed it’s mind after a few steps, opting to head back the way it had come.
