Up Close and Personal with Giant Pandas: Chengdu is Calling

Settled in Southwest China is the city of Chengdu. It has lots of beautiful gardens and structures, but what it is most well known for is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The research base is just outside the city center and gives tourists a chance to see giant pandas up close in a truly unique way.

Chengdu has been the home of pandas since the ancient times. More recently, it has been the home of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Beginning in March 1987, the center has been helping to research and preserve giant pandas. As an endangered species and a Chinese national treasure, the facility has a crucial role of looking after pandas and shares this experience with the public.

Getting to the city of Chengdu is easy. You can fly in directly or take a high speed train from any of the other popular destinations in China. To get to the facility, there are a few options. You can take public transportation via bus and it will take you around 1.5 hours from the city center. The same route will be about a 40 minute drive if you plan on renting a car. There are also tourist shuttles that you can take which will take you directly between Chengdu tourist attractions. See www.cd917.com for more details.

The facility is open from 7:30am to 6pm all year around and is around $10 to enter. There are several panda sections and it is easy to walk around to see all the exhibits in about three or four hours.

Although you can visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on your own, it is recommended that you hire a guide or go with a tour. The guides will know when the panda feedings are and will take you around the park so that you can see all the pandas awake. The problem is that pandas sleep for a large portion of the day and you may not want to just see sleeping pandas. The guided tours will cost you more than doing it on your own, but you will get more out of the visit.

However, you will not just see pandas here. You will learn about the efforts taken to protect this endangered species and the research being done. It is a beautiful thing to admire these creatures, but it is also important to make an effort to save them for future generations.