Day Out with the Pandas

We woke early today, as our early start involved a short drive to the Chengdu Panda Research Centre. We arrived at the Panda Home at about 8:00 in the morning. We were quite impressed by the layout of the park. It was full of tall bamboo arching over at the top creating a lovely pathway to walk under - especially as the days heat was starting to soar. There were fountains and ponds and everywhere was immaculate. Our driver come guide (more of a direction pointer in the park) lead us to where the Pandas were having breakfast and as it was so early, there was hardly anyone else there. There were about 5 pandas eating bamboo about 5 metres away from where we were watching, pulling off the leaves and generally having a good old munch on the branches. It was just great to stand and watch them, so cute and so relaxed. Next a short walk to see some Red Pandas, much smaller and one of them decided to pose for us, well go to the toilet. You could see the straining on his face and relief when he was done. Totally oblivious to us watching him and not one bit shy. When he had finished he found a log and decided to have a good scratch of his bum. it was very funny. Then we walked for about 10 minutes to, what can only be called, the Panda nursery. In the building we found a number large pandas in indoor pens which didn’t seem in keeping with the rest of the park. We walked on a bit further and it became clear why. There were several incubators each holding very tiny baby pandas, the youngest only being 3 days old, and the oldest being about 16 days old. Each were being cared for like a premature baby. In fact the weight of a baby panda when born is 1,000 that of its mother, weighing in at 100 grams. This makes a baby panda when both premature in medical terms. So the pandas in the pens had been the mothers - kept not too far from their babies so they could be reunited at periods throughout the day. In the incubators they are fed and then ‘helped’ to poo, and continually monitored to make sure they are in good health. They all were so cute, each finding it hard to lift their head and move around. Next stop the enclosure where the older pandas are held, it was quite busy by now and we walked around the enclosure watching a young one frolicking with it’s mother. There were more pandas here too, some up trees some on platforms and some just lying around. All very cute of course. Just as we were about to leave the enclosure we were asked if we wanted to hold a young panda. Oh yes please! was our first response. Then we were told that the cost is 1,000 RMB (£100) each, blinking Henry, as nice as it would be to hold a young panda that was way out of our price range. Despite the price there was still a queue to hold a young panda. We watched a short film about the plight of the pandas and how they were bred, how they collected the semen of the male pandas using electrical stimulation which was ineffective, to using both electrical stimulation and massage.(Trust Bryan to remember this bit!) I just can’t imaging who’s job that would be, and what would you say at a dinner party if someone asked you what your job was. A short walk around the museum, to the shop to buy and post postcards and then we headed back to the car to be taken back. All in all we really enjoyed the pandas, although they were in enclosures they were big and all the pandas appeared happy and content. We had been quite shocked at the price to hold a panda, as it only cost £60 to spend a whole day helping out at a sanctuary as a volunteer where you would get up closer to the pandas. So to spend £100 for a photo was purely for the tourists. However it does raise money for the Panda Home and the high price will keep the numbers of people coming into contact with the baby pandas down which is understandable.