Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
Saturday, April 9, 2011
It was an early start today… off to the Panda Reserve for a morning with the bears. Siew Keow joined us for the day, or rather part of the day as she will be leaving for Shanghai around 3pm. We met for a nice breakfast at 7:15am as our car would be there for us at 8am. The reserve is about 45 minutes from the hotel and we wanted to be there when it opened. All the information I read about it indicates that you really want to be early while the Pandas are feeding and most active.
The reserve is well kept and only CNY 58 per person to enjoy the time with the Pandas. We had a light rain overnight. Everything was damp and green and covered with a mossy green. We got our maps and off we went to the giant panda enclosure. They look so cute to be so dangerous. The momma panda in the photo below was quite the ham for the visitors. That is Siew Keow with me in front of the giant panda enclosure and the momma panda.
The next enclosure was the cubs. These are the adolescents. They were very playful and cute munching on their breakfast.
Next stop is the babies. You could have your picture taken with the babies, but only a certain number of people are allowed in… AND it would be for CNY 1000 to have your picture taken with your own camera. I cheaped out… and now I completely regret it. If the opportunity ever presents itself again… I will not pass it by!
I learned that 55% of the time, the females give birth to twins, but in the wild one baby typically will die. This is because the Panda cannot seem to tend to 2 babies. When Pandas are born they only weigh 100 grams. That is the size of a medium breed newborn puppy. In the reserve however, with the help of the staff there, both babies will usually survive. There were 2 sets of twins in the nursery. One set was born Aug 6 and the other set on Aug 15. These are the babies in the pictures.
There were also a few peacocks. You could hear them yelling all over the park. It reminded me of growing up down the road from my Dad’s brother…our Uncle Guy. He had peacocks and you could hear them from across the pasture when they were cranked up and yelling. These are the beautiful males with all their plumage and bright colorful tails.
As we walked between the enclosures, one would come upon ponds and large stands of bamboo, a Panda mainstay. The park is huge and very well kept. The walking paths and small paved roads give you access to everything.
The picture on the left was taken in front of a huge koi pond loaded with large koi. In the trees were 2 peacocks. The one on the right is at the bottom of the lane leading to the Panda Hospital. They give the Pandas Centrum Vitamins. They must be really good if the Pandas get them.
The next stop on the tour is the Red Panda enclosures. They are quite interesting. They are not only part of the Panda family but also of the raccoon family. They have the markings very similar to the raccoon. The Reds are smaller than the traditional panda but bigger than the raccoon, as you will see in the photos. They were playful and mischievous.
The whole experience in the park was incredible. The Pandas are magnificent animals. It is tragic that in the wild their population is almost nonexistent.
Pandas are found only in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. In total there are fewer than 1000, of which 80% are distributed within the territory of Sichuan province. Visitors from home and abroad come to Chengdu, Sichuan Province one of their main objectives will be to see the giant pandas for themselves. Without the help of reserves like this one in Chengdu and the other in Wolong, the pandas might not be here in future generations.
130 kilometers from Chengdu, Wolong Natural Reserve is renowned as the hometown of giant pandas and the Natural Zoological and Botanical Garden. It's the earliest, largest and best-known panda reserve in China. It was placed on UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve Network in 1980. After the earthquake on May 12, 2008, the pandas were moved to Bifeng Gorge Panda Base.
Preservation of the species is paramount to the Chinese people and should be to all of us. These are incredible creatures.
This was a bamboo covered path that was beautiful. Some of the Chinese soldiers were visiting the park that day also. The garden on the right was just down from the bamboo path. It is still early here for the flowers. We were told that today was one of the few really great days in Chengdu. We were told that there is only about a month out of each year that the weather is this beautiful.
We loved our morning in the Panda reserve and if you ever get an opportunity to go to China, it would be worth a trip to Chengdu to see the Pandas. I would definitely go back.
It is time to leave and meet our driver. Next stop on the itinerary is lunch back in Chengdu.
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