I expect I saw Chi-Chi and An-An at London Zoo when I was a child but other than them this will be another bucket list sightseeing for me today - giant pandas. I don't think there are any opportunities to see giant pandas in the wild, no matter how much you're prepared to pay as there are so few of them left now, so a breeding/research centre is the best we could hope for. Having spent a few days in China now though my expectations are considerably more realistic, but I bought my 100-500 lens with me on the trip especially for today so I was determined to make the most of the opportunities.
I thought this was a rather strange choice of hotel decor in our room.
Rather flat skies on leaving Chengdu but actually that suits me far better than bright sunshine which will make photography very, very challenging.
Yup, we arrived.
One of the many parties of school children around.
Set up to resemble the mountain and forest regions in North Sichuan, the original home of the Giant Panda, with extensive planting of bamboo trees and large green spaces, the centre is now home to over 80 pandas.
I can't help wondering if the lady with the yellow flag is a tour guide who's lost her group as she seems to have only one person following her.
Well, this is it - what I've been waiting for - my first panda photo and it's **** I hope it gets better!
The enclosures are very large and fenced to about 4' with the animals free to come as close to the fence as they like or stay in the distance where there are also cave-like structures for them to retreat to in the heat of the day. We'd been told the peak time for activity was usually between 9 and 11am when they are feeding and that once it started to get hot, they simply retreated into the shade and dozed. Because bamboo has very little nutritional value, depending on their size, they have to eat 12-38kgs per day.
There are 10+ different enclosures but we were led as a group to the ones that would hopefully provide the best sightings. Crowds were about 4-5 people deep but we made good use of Ian's height advantage - he could spot things I couldn't see and then somehow get his way to the fence and then make room for me whilst fending off anyone trying to jostle us. Once I was safely at the fence he'd then move on and look for a clearer angle for photos. It worked very well.
Sideways on they're not particularly attractive animals.
Although there were wardens trying to make you move on continuously, we stuck to our position and watched this one up a tree in the hope it might just do something.
Our patience paid off and it slowly made its way to the ground.
This image taken by Raymond with his fish eye lens shows the kind of crowds we had to contend with - Ian's standing on the wall on the RHS.
This is Xiang Bing, a female born in 2007 and known as the Demolition Officer as she likes to break trees. Again a lot of distraction, but I rather like the eye contact - you could almost pretend you were in the wild.
At the very end of the pathway was the crèche, which was completely enclosed and contained various concrete pens with young pandas inside. The lighting was terrible and the Perspex windows filthy - not a very nice place at all.
Interestingly some others in the group were absolutely delighted with their experience in the crèche and apparently took some wonderful photos on their phones. Horses for courses I know!
Moving on to a different enclosure and by ducking down low I could get this shot of a panda eating.
Although from this video it looks more like it was brushing its teeth!
Here are shots of a couple of other pandas we saw, this one looks like it's been wedged in the tree.
And I've included this one purely for realism; in case in my dotage I start to believe I actually saw them in the wild, this will confirm it was really a "zoo" by any other name.
By now it was approaching noon and Raymond declared it was time to head for lunch which was being taken in the restaurant near the lake we passed on the way in. Ian and I decided it was a no brainer - eat yet another Chinese lunch or wander around taking more photos of pandas as we're unlikely to ever have the chance again. Initially Raymond was a little concerned we might get lost, but as we've always returned on time before I think he decided he could trust us.
Left to our own devices we headed away from the crowds and found a rope bridge to cross.
And after a fairly stiff climb up, we found another very large enclosure with practically no one else there. And then the icing on the cake, this gorgeous panda sitting around in the open and happily eating.
Cuddly as they appear, I wouldn't like to come into contact with either their teeth or claws.
I love how dextrous they are, just helping itself to another bamboo.
Our extra hour was nearly up and we were so pleased we made the decision to stay around. On the way back down to meet the others we saw a red panda, which despite its name is not a close relation. It was in a heavily wooded area and rather difficult to photograph.
And this lovely peacock.
The area around the lake was beautiful and the first place I'd seen any decent flowers so whilst Ian popped to the loo and located the group, I had a wander around.
We've seen very few birds so far, just the odd Magpie, so these were quite exciting, a Collared Finchbill (so I'm told by Google reverse image look up).
And a Chinese Bulbul
Nicotiana sp.
Huge lily pads but we were a little early for the flowers.
This sweet young thing was taking selfies in the bushes and I couldn't resist - but I got spotted!
A lovely coloured Canna indica
This is Helichrysum bracteatum (commonly known as a strawflower)
Pontederia cordata (pickerelweed)
Campanula punctata
And finally an amazingly coloured dragonfly.
I only had about 15 mins but it was wonderful to see some flowering plants. On the way back to the coach there were lots of opportunities to buy panda souvenirs.
And delicious fruit.
What a lovely day it turned out to be.