There was a long walk to the actual homes of the pandas, but it was a beautiful one, filled with their natural environment, and indications of spring.

Along the way, peacocks and peahens strutted about, and we even found one stationed in a tree.

At last though, we came to the habitats of the Giant Pandas, coming upon the adults first. There were signs everywhere for us to speak quietly, if at all. The whole environment was peaceful and tranquil, we just wanted to enjoy the pandas.

We eventually came to the abodes of the young pandas. They thrilled us with their playful antics.

Sometimes they tumbled and wrestled with one another , or chased each other. More than once, we saw them fall on their heads from a high loft.

At one point we were invited to have our pictures taken with one of the pandas at a cost of $1,000 yuan ($140 Cdn). They were cute, but, nope I didn’t get in on the offer.

They are also breeding Red Panda’s at this research centre. They are quite a different kind

of animal with a big bushy tail like a fox.

Once we’d seen all the pandas in live action, we watched a twenty minute long video on how they were bread, going through the whole process of mating, insemination, and the birth process. They spared no details.

At the end of the tour we are led, of course, to the gift shop where there is tons of panda bear paraphanalia to choose from…all I bought were some post cards as they had better shots of the pandas than I could take with my camera and the angles we were allowed to shoot from.

Web sites about Giant Pandas:

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/panda.php

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/species/about_species/species_factsheets/giant_panda/index.cfm

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/panda-breeding-and-research-center.htm

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/wolong_panda_research_center.htm

http://www.regenttour.com/chinaplanner/ctu/ctu-odd-panda.htm