Onto the final section of the Ya’an Bifengxia Base, the Overseas Panda Paradise! This is the furthest area into the base – I’m quite proud of myself for walking the whole base and not taking the bus, I racked up the equivalent of 99 flights of stairs according to my phone on this day! Here there are 5 visible yards, and another couple that aren’t visible (but I did spy a panda in far up the hill and through the trees!) – in these 5 yards were a total 8 pandas, and I managed to see them all. Sadly however the only view I had of Dutch-born Fan Xing was of her bum way at the back of the yard … one day I’ll have a great time seeing her, it wasn’t this day!
Mei Sheng 美生
First up is Mei Sheng 美生, who I saw in this yard last year as well, it’s good to see him again^ I definitely saw more of him this year, he was enjoying bamboo when I went in the morning, the rock structure is a perfect shaded and sheltered spot from the more damp weather. In the afternoon he was enjoying a nap ontop of the rocks, I can see in the Summer this would be the perfect warm sun-bathing spot! Despite looking old and worn in, the rocks are actually new, last year it was a wooden structure in the middle there – I think I like the rocks a little more for the natural look.
Bing Bao + Bing Zai
Next up are Bing Bao 冰宝 and Bing Zai 冰仔 – I saw these two last year living at the Wolong Shenshuping base. Last time I saw a lot of eating, this time they were more into the sleeping. It was super cute to see them cuddled up together, albeit it didn’t look all that comfortable on the steps at the back of the yard. This yard is one of the muddiest I’ve seen, and these two are definitely showing a dirtier tinge to their white fur now!
Bai Feng 白峰
Bai Feng 白峰 is also a panda who was living in the same yard when I visited last year – I really like this yard for the variation it provides, although I can see it won’t always be the easiest yard for viewing. There’s a lot of woodland and the panda could easily spend all day in there and never be seen! Bai Feng is now 4.5 years old, so a subadult still. He was less active on my visit this time, but I did spend less time in this area than my last visit. He did have a good walk around though, I really like the path of stairs down the hillside, I think it makes for some nice photos having a panda walking down them.
Da Bai Tu + Cubs
And the final pandas to share about at Ya’an Bifengxia Base, Da Bai Tu 大白兔 and her 2023-born cub Bai Jun 白君 and her surrogate 2023-born cub Lan Tai 兰台 – who is one of the twins of Tian Tian 田田 (not Edinburgh Zoo‘s Tian Tian, but actually her granddaughter), she is raising the other twin Lan Tian 兰田 in the wild training programme. I saw these two cubs last year at Wolong Shenshuping but they were sleeping every time I went past, and I didn’t actually see Da Bai Tu at all, so I’m happy with the viewing this time. One cub hasn’t changed much – last time they were up on the rocks, this time one of the cubs was on the rocks most of the time too! Da Bai Tu was initially on the ground but eventually climbed up to join the baby and there were some very lovely interactions between the two. Da Bai Tu is a very beautiful and distinctive panda. I didn’t see a lot of the other cub, he was tucked in a pile of leaves sleeping at the bottom of a tree quite far away from the other two, it was luck that I spotted him!
