So here we are part 3 of my China adventure. This one will probably be a shorter one as the next stage after visiting the Chengdu Panda Base and Research Centre we board a cruise ship to sail down the Yangtze river and pass through the three gorges dam lock and that deserves a full post on it's own.
To catch up with where we are now check out @platypus-dundee/tales-from-the-far-east and @platypus-dundee/tales-from-the-far-east-dca5f16146c12
Once again with our tour group we travel to the Chengdu Panda Base and Research Centre via bus and enter the grounds and are met with an open sprawl of gardens featuring bronze statues of animals from around the world.
Our first stop is at the Red Panda exhibit, this little fellas aren't related to the Panda family, more closely aligned with racoons or bears but since they are native to china I guess they got stuck with that monica.
The Panda exhibit was separated into two parts and looked well setup to keep the pandas happy and well exercised, although a little outdated and certainly not world class facilities, there was with plenty of play equipment to muck around on, shelter to hide in and food to munch on.
We were lucky enough that there were some baby pandas to moon over and they certainly loved putting on a little show for us.
There was even a tiger enclosure sporting the traditional red stripped cats and the rarer white striped ones too.
It was a great experience to be able to see these gentle giants up close (the pandas I mean) and that breeding programs like this exist to help out these endangered animals that the massive sprawl of Chinese city's create.
As I mentioned at the start the next stage to our journey was to board a cruise ship for a 4-5 night stay sailing down the mighty Yangtze River. An experience that will live on in memory as one of the best travel options I've ever taken!