Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Taking centre stage on the city of Chengdu’s attraction list is the ‘Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding’. Its the largest and most successful being home to many pandas both young and old. Pandas are bred at the centre and along with being a popular tourist attraction it also lives up to it’s name as being a functioning research centre.
Pandas are bred at the centre, and apparently many are re-introduced into the wild. Along with the Giant panda there are also Red Pandas and apparently tigers and monkeys, but I’m not sure where the last two where hiding, I certainly didn’t see any.
The trick to this place is getting there early, for two reasons, First reason is to beat the crowds, and I’m talking about chinese crowds, buses pour into this place. Second reason is to see the pandas being fed as per the photo below:
This group of four where the only ones I saw that came out of there shelters and apparently these are quite young. The older bigger bears apparently just laze around in their shelters and can be hard to catch out and about. Feeding time for the young cubs is definitely the best time as this is when they are most active, otherwise you could be a little disappointed just seeing pandas sleeping inside a concrete cave.
The centre is quite large and can take some time to walk around all the different enclosures. The pandas have quite large open outdoor play areas replicating their natural environment. There is also a large lake featuring some noisy and inquisitive ducks and geese.
I booked a taxi for the trip there and back, as I was told that the public bus option can be a little confusing. The taxi took me out to the centre, waited two hours and then brought me back to the Tibet Hotel Chengdu where I was staying. All up it cost around 200rmb (yuan) for the taxi and 60rmb for entry, which is a total of about $40 aud.
Also at the Panda Bear Research Base is a museum which has some intreesting artifacts and some even more interesting stories depicted in several peices of art, such as the one below (note the angry warrior panda!)
Chengdu Panda Base Map Location
