The Wolong nature reserve located 136km northwest of Chengdu, covers about 200,000 hectares. It was founded in 1963 as a means of protecting the giant panda. The reserve is 52 km from west to east and 62 km from north to south. Its total area is 200 thousand hectares, and it contains about 10% of the world's wild panda population. It was placed on the UNESCO list of Man and Biosphere Reserves in 1980.
Today, the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Centre has been turned into a Giant Panda Breeding Centre focusing on research works on panda reproduction and bamboo ecology. The Centre has two types of 'accommodations' for giant pandas - captive cages and semi-natural enclosures. Most of the giant pandas in the Centre stay individually in the captive cages, which are in fact large enclosures, each consisting of an in-door room and an out-door courtyard. The semi-natural enclosures are very large wild areas protected by border fences. Those giant pandas soon to be released back to the wild are put in the semi-natural enclosures for long enough for them to adapt to the natural environment. Although food has to be provided, the giant pandas will sleep there, eat there and recover their natural survival skills until they can be released back into the wild.
Get there: Take long-distance bus from Chengdu to Xiaojinxian (departing from Chengdu Ximen Bus Station at 6:40 am) and get off at Wolong. It takes about 3 hours and RMB 40.
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