Sample Itinerary - Panda Tour

Day 1

Arrive in Yangxian at midday (from Xian City) and enjoy a lunch at our Bureau and visit our wildlife information centre. In the afternoon we will drive to the village of Huayang deep in the Qinling Mountains. Huayang Village is located next to Changqing National Nature Reserve and is a beautiful rural village. This afternoon we will go on a tour of the Village, visiting the ancient old street, the lookout overlooking the Village and finish up watching the Crested Ibis fly into roost. Dinner will consist of local delicious produce. After dinner we will watch a DVD documentary about Professor Pan and learn about his time spent here.

Day 2

Today we will spend the day in the Reserve in the habitat of the Giant Panda! We will track the Panda and try to see them in the wild. We will visit beautiful rivers and waterfalls and many areas frequented by the Panda’s and learn about the 3 essential habitat factors river’s, tree’s and bamboo. If we are lucky enough to find trace’s of Panda’s or even see one, we will record this information using a GPS. In the evening we will enter any sightings/information into our Panda Database. The Panda Database is a record of Giant Panda sightings over the last 7 years. You will learn about the importance of this tracking system see the Patrol routes and the database we use. Dinner will be in our Restaurant and we will enjoy local food and produce.

Day 3

Today we will be on the trail of the giant Panda again. We will also visit Professor’s Pan’s old research station and go higher into the mountains to see the high altitude vegetation and wildlife. At all times we will not only be looking for the Giant Panda but also the other amazing wildlife found here in Changqing Nature Reserve such as the Golden Takin, Golden Monkey and numerous birds. This evening we will relax watch a DVD and learn more about Changqing Reserve and the surrounding area.

Day 4

Today we will spend the morning visiting a different part of the reserve that the Giant Panda is known to live. We will have lunch back in Huayang Village and depart for Yangxian in the afternoon. We will arrive in Yangxian town and drop you at the bus station for you departure to Xian (or if you choose we can organise other onward destinations such as Chengdu).

Notes on Itinerary

**Depending on your arrival and departure times we will organise an itinerary for you based on the one above**

**You can add a extra days to the itinerary if you would like to look for the Giant Panda for longer or add days from one of our other tours such as the Culture Tour**

**A good level of fitness is required for this tour. We will be climbing mountains and hiking on undeveloped trails**

**Accommodation is in our Hotel in Huayang Village**

**To give you the best chance of seeing Giant Panda’s in the wild we recommend doing this tour in the winter month’s.... November-March**

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