1-Day Dujiangyan Panda Keeper Program Tour

Located 60 kilometers or 1½ hours away from Chengdu by car, Dujiangyan Panda Base is the most easily accessible base in China to join the Panda Keeper Program.

8:30am: Arrival and Suit Up

Your guide will call you at your hotel one day in advance or will leave a message to confirm the collection time with you. You will be picked up at around 7am from your hotel. After arrival at the panda base, sign up and get a uniform. Your guide will introduce you to the professional panda keepers. The panda keepers can speak simple English but your guide will be there for you at all times, helping to translate and taking memorable photos of you with the lovable pandas.

Ready to go!

9:00am–10:00am: Clean the Panda Enclosures

Clean the panda enclosures. Panda keepers need to supply fresh bamboo three times a day. The pandas usually only eat 30% of the bamboo, wasting 70% of it. You will need to sweep out the leftovers and replace them with fresh bamboo, as well as clean out the feces.

Dumping panda poops

Fresh bamboos coming

10am–11am: Roam Around with an Expert Panda Guide

Take a break and tour around the panda base. Our guides are veritable panda lovers — they are familiar with the base and know a lot about pandas. Some of them have even hosted a live cam feed about pandas on Facebook and YouTube.

There are about 10 pandas at the base and some of them are overseas returnees, including the most popular Tai Shan and Bao Bao, who arrived from the US. You will also have the chance to meet four naughty red pandas.

Adorable pandas

Panda expert guide

11am–11:30am: 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.

Feed a panda

Panda’s lunch

11:30am–1pm: Have a Simple Lunch in the Panda Keepers’ Canteen

A simple Chinese lunch is included in the 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 volunteers’ office or the resting room, where benches are provided.

Lunch at canteen

Watch a special documentary movie about panda's life cycle

2pm–3pm: Second Round of Cleaning and Feeding

The bamboo you supplied in the morning will have become dry by the afternoon. Remove it and replace it with fresh bamboo. Then feed the pandas with some more panda cakes and apples.

More cleaning and feeding

3pm–3:30pm: Make Panda Cakes

Having fed the pandas with panda cakes, aren’t you curious as to how they are made? It is time to make some panda cakes with your own hands. The ingredients will be prepared in advance. Get creative about the shapes of the cakes.

Make Panda Cakes

3:30pm–4pm: Get a Certificate

The volunteer work ends here and you will receive a certificate for this unforgettable day. Say goodbye to the pandas you have taken care of. Your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel in Chengdu and you will arrive at about 5:30pm.

Get a Certificate

Trip Notes

1. Booking Panda Keeper Program

As the first tour company in China to operate the program, China Highlights has developed stable relationship with the Dujiangyan Panda Base. Sometimes the program is subject to change due to force majeure. Usually we are able to get the first-hand information that is very helpful for your tour arrangement. Your early booking is also useful to guarantee the availability of the program. Sometimes the activities listed in the description will be adjusted according to health condition of the pandas. Hope customers can understand this.
If your time is limited, you can only join the activities in the morning. The price is the same.

This tour is very flexible. You can alter the itinerary, and extend or shorten it to suit your schedule.

Physical Examination Record is required for panda keeper program application. Please click the link below to download the form. Feel free to contact our 1:1 travel expert for any questions.

2. Age Limit

The age restriction of volunteer is between 10 to 70 years old. Even though the pandas look harmless, they are carnivores. Parents must ensure that they prevent their children from coming into direct contact with the pandas. The cost for children of 10 years old and above is the same as the cost for adults. If your children are between 0–9 years old, you can still take them with you during the program. The children can not enter the room where the panda cage is. Your guide can help take care of them if you like.

3. Dress Code

Certain pavements in the base can be very wet and slippery. To avoid slipping, please do not wear short pants or slippery footwear. Also, pandas have a very keen sense of smell. As you will get very close to them during the tour, please do not wear perfume or nail polish. Our sincere thanks for your extra care and respect towards the pandas.

4. Transportation Suggestions

If you need to catch a flight or train after the program, flights departing after 8 pm or trains departing after 7 pm are recommended. For international flights, flights after 9 pm are suggested. If your flight or train leaves earlier than the recommended times above, you may need to skip some arrangements in the afternoon and head earlier to the airport or train station.