1-Day Dujiangyan Panda Keeper Program

Keeping a panda as a pet is impossible, but you can get really close to pandas and take care of them for a whole day by joining this program!

This activity will provide you an opportunity to prepare their food, hand-feed them, and clean their enclosures.

Note: There is a daily quota of 60 volunteers for the Panda Keeper Program. Book in advance to make sure you can be one of the volunteers.

From US$
Per person for 2 travelers

Contact us via WeChat

for any inquiry

Scan ChinaTravel QR Code

qr-code

What To Expect

Tour Itinerary

The Night Before Your Tour arrange a pickup time

Your guide will call you at about 8 pm on the night before your tour to arrange the exact pick-up time. If you don’t answer, your guide will leave you a message at the front desk of your hotel.

We will also send you your guide's phone number about a week before your tour. So don't worry about pickup.

Good to Know

  • We recommend that you start your tour no later than 7 am.
  • Your car will be a 7-seater air-conditioned business car. Your guide, fluent in English, knows pandas very well.
7:00am-8:30am Transfer from your hotel in Chengdu to Dujiangyan

Your driver and English-speaking guide will pick you up from your hotel lobby at about 7 am and head to the Dujiangyan Panda Base. It takes about 90 minutes to drive.

There are only 2,000+ pandas left in the world, about 400 in zoos and 1,800 in the wild, and most of them in or near Chengdu of Sichuan Province. You will see about 20 pandas at the Dujiangyan Panda Base.

hotel pickup
Hotel Pickup in Chengdu
08:30–09:00 Preparation

Get your volunteer pass, and a working uniform and gloves. A professional panda keeper will tell you the relevant procedures. The panda keeper can speak only simple English, so your guide will be there at all times, to translate for you and to take photos for you to record your special experience.

The pandas will be awake and you will start the Panda Keeper program and learn how to take care of them.

Linger Garden
Panda Keeper Telling the Relevant Procedures
9:00–10:00 Clean Panda Enclosures

Giant pandas eat lots of bamboo every day. So panda keepers need to supply fresh bamboo three times daily.

Take the old bamboo out and replace it with fresh bamboo, and clean out the feces. In doing this, you will learn more about the living environment and conditions of pandas.

Rickshaw Ride in Suzhou
Clean Panda Enclosure
10:00–11:00 Take a Break and Visit the Panda Base

Take a break and have a leisurely walk to visit the panda base. You can watch pandas playing, climbing trees, and rolling around.

Suzhou Dumpling Restaurant
Visit the Panda Base
11:00–11:30 Watch the Keeper Feed a Panda

Besides bamboo, pandas also eat cakes, carrots, and apples. You will watch a professional panda keeper feed the panda appropriately and learn their eating.

Gondola Ride

Food for the Panda

12:00–14:00 Have Lunch in the Panda Keepers' Canteen

Lunch will start around 12:00 at a staff restaurant at the Dujiangyan Panda Base. Chinese style meal serves two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and rice. Enjoy your meal with the staff there.

After lunch, you can wander around the base on your own. You also could have a break in the resting room, to renew your energy for afternoon activities.

Gondola Ride
Have Lunch in the Panda Keepers' Canteen
15:00-15:40 Make Cakes for Panda

Remember you fed the pandas with cakes? Now, you will learn about what ingredients are needed for the cakes, and how to make the cakes with the help of the staff. You can make any shape you want. Ingredients will be prepared in advance.

Gondola Ride
Make Cakes for Panda
15:40 - 16:00 Receive Your Certificate

The Base will award you a panda keeper certificate when you finish all activities. Return your working clothes and your volunteer pass to the staff.

Gondola Ride
Receive Your Certificate
16:00-17:30 Back to Chengdu

The program will end at 16:00. You will be transferred back to your Chengdu hotel at around 17:30.

If you need to transfer to the airport or train station after the tour, please contact our travel advisor.

Price Per Person in US Dollars

 

* The price may change during some festivals including the Spring Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Labor Day (1st May), Mid Autumn Day, and National Day (1st Oct.).

* The price is subject to change based on the exchange rate.

What's Included

Good to Know

Inquire This Tour

from US $ p/p

1

Select Travel Date

2

Number of Travelers

Book Now

Need Help?

Request a custom itinerary today and get one step closer to your personalized trip

Create Your Trip