We spent most of an afternoon in Chengdu at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. I’m not sure why it has such a long name. It’s basically a Giant Panda breeding research sanctuary. They have 50 pandas here, out of the 1,000 pandas in the whole world (in 2003). They have baby pandas, toddler pandas, families of pandas, and even red pandas (in the raccoon family).

Our guide said that pandas eat 50 pounds of bamboo leaves and shoots in a day. She said that pandas sleep 50% of the time and eat 47% of the time. We were lucky and saw at least ten large pandas that were active as well as five young pandas that were active and three babies in the panda nursery. We were also able to get very close to the pandas and watch them eat bamboo.

I was very pleased with the experience. The facility is an excellent place with fabulous grounds. We also went through the panda museum which highlights pandas, butterflies, and vertebrates.

I’ve included a few photos just to give a small glimpse of our time at the panda sanctuary.