Chengdu 2-Day Private Tour Package including Dujiangyan Panda Base Panda Keeper Program

Day 1 Hotel pick-up, Mount Qingcheng, Dujiangyan Irrigation System

Destination: Chengdu & Dujiangyan
Meals included: Lunch & Dinner at Halal restaurant
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Dujiangyan Ancient City or similar

Pick up from your selfbooked hotel in Chengdu and transferred to Mount Qingcheng (90 minutes) in the morning. Mount Qingcheng is one of the most famous Taoist mountains in China. The mountain, which is surrounded by numerous peaks is dubbed ‘the most peaceful and secluded mountain under heaven’ and combines perfectly with its evergreen scenery. Vist Dujiangyan Irrigation System in the afternoon. Built in 256 BC, this grand irrigation project has played a crucial role in flood prevention and irrigation for over 2,000 years and it is known as one of the great hydraulic engineering projects of ancient China. Originally constructed around 256 BC by the State of Qin as an irrigation and flood control project, the system harnessed Minjiang River using a new method of channeling and dividing the river rather than simply damming it. The water management scheme is still in use today to irrigate over 5,300 square kilometres of land in the region. After the system was finished, no more floods occurred in Chengdu plain of Sichuan province. The irrigation made Sichuan province the most productive agricultural region in China.

Day 2 Dujiangyan Panda Base, Panda Keeper Program

Destination: Dujiangyan & Chengdu
Meals included: Breakfast at hotel, lunch & dinner at Halal restaurants

07:00 Hotel Pick-up & Transfer to Dujiangyan Panda Base
Your private guide will be holding GoGrandChina pick-up sign and waiting for you in your hotel lobby (or other appointed meeting place) at the appointed time. You will be transferred to Dujiangyan Panda Base by a comfortable air-conditioned private vehicle (90 minutes).

08:30 Arrive at Dujiangyan Panda Base and register
Arrive at the Dujiangyan Panda Base and sign up with the assistance of your guide. Get a uniform, gloves, and a volunteer’s card. Your guide will introduce you to the professional English speaking panda keepers. Meanwhile your guide will be there for you at all times, helping to take photos of you with the lovable pandas.

09:00 Clean Panda Enclosures, Prepare Fresh Bamboo for Pandas
Clean the panda enclosures. Panda keepers need to feed fresh bamboo three times a day. Pandas eat 20-40 pounds of bamboo per day. That’s a lot of poop and leaves to pick up in one enclosure. The pandas usually eat only 30% of the bamboo, wasting 70% of it. You will need to sweep out the leftovers and replace it with fresh bamboo.

10:00 Tour around Dujiangyan Panda Base
There are about 10 pandas in the base and some of them were born abroad, including the most popular Tai Shan and Bao Bao who arrived from the Washington DC Zoo to participate in the panda breeding program. You will also have a chance to meet four naughty red pandas.

11:00 Feed a Panda
Pandas are supplied with panda cakes, apples, and carrots four times a day. The panda keepers will show you how to feed a panda with your own hands at close proximity. It offers you a chance to look into the eyes of panda in a very close way.

11:30 Lunch at Staff’s Canteen
A simple Chinese lunch is included at the Staff’s Canteen. Usually there are two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. Rice and porridge are also provided. It is highly recommended for you to prepare some snacks in case you do not like the food there. After lunch, you can walk around to continue exploring or have a rest in the volunteer office or the resting room.

13:00 Watch a Panda Movie
After lunch watch a 40-minute movie to learn about scientific facts about the endangered species and the painstaking efforts that human put forward to protect them.

14:00 More Cleaning and Feeding
Clean the panda enclosures again, feed a panda with more fresh bamboos and supply with more special treats (apple, carrot, etc.), one more chance to get close to the cute creatures.

15:00 Make Panda Cakes
Make some panda cakes with prepared ingredients under the guidance of the instructor. Here is a chance for fully use of your imagination to create differently shaped cakes.

15:30 Get Volunteer Certificate and Transfer Back to Your Hotel in Chengdu
You will get a certificate granted by the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Foundation. The volunteer work ends here and say goodbye to the pandas that you have taken care of. Your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel in Chengdu (90 minutes).