Chengdu Panda Rescue Base

Jing snagged VIP tickets for the Chengdu Panda Rescue Base and Joni and I headed there early.

Lucky for us, the place was not at all busy, and the shooting conditions were fantastic.

 

Butterfly looks like a leaf.

We head to the nursery building first to see the newborns.

 

 

We then stop to see the juvenile pandas. They are always playing around.

 

 

Adult panda

Sitting with a panda cub

Joni couldn’t take her eyes off the panda for this pic. She tries to move in for a kiss. We have to remind her this is a bear that could bite her face off.

 

The bamboo stick is covered in honey.

My turn!

 

 

Pandas make noise and this one was “rawr”-ing as he comped away on the bamboo.

 

You will have to look up in the trees for pandas. They love climbing up for a nap.

They get pretty lazy in the heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a nice pond on one side of the panda breeding center, called “Swan Lake.” It has a nice restaurant and this lovely waterfront sitting area.

 

 

 

 

This is what if feels like pretty much everywhere in china. Too many fish.

 

 

I finally nab a clean shot of these super-quick dried leaf butterflies.

This spider was 5 inches long, I swear.

 

More Pandas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting the Red Pandas

The Red Panda is not really a Panda. They are more closely related to raccoons. They are about the size of a domesticated cat, and are indeed native to this region, and their diet overlaps greatly with the Giant Panda (bamboo). Like the Giant Panda, the Red Panda is an Endangered Species, mostly do to loss of habitat of the native bamboo forests.

 

 

 

And that was it for today as the sun was getting low – I ended up coming back the following week.